Quentin Tarantino unexpectedly treated the AFI Fest audience in Los Angeles to the first public footage from a follow-up to his 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, screening the opening 17 minutes of the new picture. The surprise unveiling at the TCL Chinese Theatre gives viewers an early look at a project scripted by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher, with Brad Pitt back as the film’s enigmatic fixer, Cliff Booth.
At the end of his onstage Q&A, Tarantino offered the clip instead of a further discussion, then rose as the room realized what was about to play. The footage marked the first time the public has seen any moving images from the sequel, which Fast-forwarding to 1977, repositions Booth in a Hollywood that has changed since the original story’s 1969 setting.
Early details and creative notes
The new film, titled The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, follows Booth as he moves between low-profile jobs — bartending and running a projection booth among them — while occasionally acting as a problem-solver for the industry’s more complicated figures. The official premise suggests Los Angeles no longer requires the same type of tough-guy stuntman, but that Hollywood’s messes still demand someone with Cliff’s particular, sometimes extralegal, skill set.
Brad Pitt reprises his Oscar-winning role. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II, Peter Weller, Matt Groove, JB Tadena, Corey Fogelmanis and Karren Karagulian.
Fincher, who took the director’s chair after Tarantino wrote the script, told Empire this week that his first read of the screenplay ran roughly 230 pages and that he trimmed about 60 pages in the process. The final cut now sits at around two and a half hours, according to Fincher.
- Festival debut: AFI Fest, screening of first 17 minutes at the TCL Chinese Theatre (Los Angeles).
- Theatrical window: IMAX release set for November 25.
- Streaming: Netflix will begin streaming the film on December 23.
- Runtime: Approximately 2½ hours (per director).
- Creative team: Script by Quentin Tarantino; directed by David Fincher; starring Brad Pitt.
The paired IMAX theatrical date and late-December streaming launch place the movie in the heart of the awards-season calendar while still reaching Netflix’s global audience just before the holidays.
Tarantino used the AFI appearance to discuss other work as well: he confirmed his stage play, The Popinjay Cavalier, will debut in London’s West End next spring. Sacha Baron Cohen is set to star; previews begin February 23 and the official opening is March 18 at the Phoenix Theatre.
The brief public excerpt and the high-profile collaboration between Tarantino and Fincher have already intensified attention on the production since it was announced in 2024 that Pitt and Fincher were reuniting on a Tarantino-scripted project. For now, audiences only have the festival clip to judge, with the full film arriving in theaters and on Netflix next month.
This report includes contributions from Patrick Hipes.
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Hello, I’m Declan. I share my film reviews and discoveries with you to enrich your moviegoing experience.