David Fincher has significantly altered Quentin Tarantino's screenplay for The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, a follow-up film to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood focusing on Brad Pitt's character. Fincher, who directed the project, cut approximately 60 pages from Tarantino's original script.
"The first draft I read was 230 pages. It was essentially two movies," Fincher told Empire Magazine. He explained that the trimming process involved finding a common ground between the visions of himself, Tarantino, and Pitt. Despite the cuts, the completed film runs close to two hours and 20 minutes.
Tarantino described his screenplay as "very different" from his work on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, noting it possessed "the flavour of an Elmore Leonard paperback: a crime-story paperback feel."
Fincher elaborated that his approach focused more on character interactions than plot, stating, "It wasn’t about the plot as much as it was about how the participants collided with one another in the back alleys of Hollywood in 1977."
The full narrative envisioned by Tarantino for The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth will be published as a novel in December and is currently available for pre-order. Fincher's adaptation is scheduled to open in IMAX theaters globally on November 25, 2026, before its Netflix debut on December 23, 2026. The film features a cast including Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Peter Weller.
In related news, Tarantino recently stated he has written his tenth and final film script but intends to pause before directing it. He also has a stageplay, The Popinjay Cavalier, slated for production in London's West End next year with Sacha Baron Cohen in the lead role.