Quentin Tarantino on David Fincher directing the follow-up to 'Once Upon a Time'

by August 16, 2025
Uruguay al Día Radio
The World Today
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Quentin Tarantino is explaining why he moved on to direct the upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow-up.

In April, it was announced that Brad Pitt would officially reprise his role as Cliff Booth from the director's 2019 film. However, to much surprise, David Fincher , not Tarantino, is attached to direct the Netflix project.

The two-time Oscar winner explained on The Church of Tarantino podcast that he partly didn't want to direct the film because he didn't want his tenth and final film to be a sequel.

"I love this script, but I'm still walking the same ground I've already walked. It just doesn't deviate me," he said. "This last film, I have to not know what I'm doing again. I have to be in uncharted territory."

Tarantino went on to explain why Fincher was the right director for the job, singing a fair amount of praise. "I think David Fincher and I are the two best directors. So, the idea that David Fincher actually wants to adapt my work, to me, shows a level of seriousness toward my work that I think needs to be taken into account," he explained.

Notably, he still wrote the script for the feature and will serve as a producer, ensuring that he "will be around if they need me" as production progresses.

"I'm moving back and forth between here and Israel, so I won't be on set every day and everything. But yeah, I'll be around if they need me to do anything, you know, I'll do it," Tarantino added.

The Pulp Fiction director also explained why he scrapped his planned final film, The Film Critic . The project was also, at one point, in development as a TV show.

“I really like it a lot. There was a challenge I gave myself when I made it: Can I take the most boring profession in the world and turn it into an interesting movie?” Tarantino said. “Who wants to watch a TV show about a damn movie critic? Who wants to watch a movie called The Movie Critic ? That was the test. If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about someone who actually watches interesting movies, that’s an achievement.”

He also clarified that The Movie Critic would have been a "spiritual sequel" to Once Upon a Time and "there were no crossover characters, Cliff Booth was never in The Movie Critic " despite much speculation.

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