Quentin Tarantino doesn't usually put modern-day filmmakers on his level. That’s just how he is. David Fincher seems to be the one exception.
Stopping by The Graham Norton Show this past Friday to promote "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth," the Fincher-directed "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" follow-up he wrote, Tarantino paid Fincher the ultimate QT compliment:
He's my favorite director aside from myself.
"Aside from myself." Quentin being Quentin.
Tarantino has called “Zodiac” and “The Social Network” masterpieces. I further wrote last year about how Tarantino went full fanboy over Fincher’s "The Killer," also calling it a masterpiece and one of the best things he'd seen this decade. So, this all checks out.
Fincher wasn't even Tarantino's idea. He was actually going to shelf the script. Then Brad Pitt played matchmaker:
When Brad suggested, 'What about David doing it?' — this is Brad P. Brad. Brad. Cliff Booth — I go, 'Wow, if you think he would be interested, yeah.' And then he read the script and he was interested and we got together and talked and it was just a marriage made in heaven.
In that same interview, Tarantino calls his ten-film rule “a slippery, greasy pig loophole.” That’s one way to describe it. Tarantino was originally going to direct ‘Cliff Booth’ himself after scrapping "The Movie Critic." According to DP Robert Richardson, Pitt's "F1" commitment delayed pre-production, and the extra time made Tarantino question whether he wanted this to be his final film. The rest is history.
Tarantino also gave us the clearest description yet of what the film is actually about, something Netflix has kelt rather secret. It's set in 1977, eight years after 'Hollywood,' which we already, but Cliff is not doing much stunt work anymore:
He more has like a series of odd jobs that he does every week, so that kind of helps make his nut. [...] When people in the Hollywood industry kind of end up crossing over to the wild side and get themselves into trouble, Cliff is the kind of guy who can get them out.
Fincher brought his usual crew, with Erik Messerschmidt replacing Richardson behind the camera, and the budget is reportedly north of $200M. Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Peter Weller, Holt McCallany and Timothy Olyphant co-star. The film hits IMAX theaters on November 25.
Saulnier is, of course, the filmmaker behind "Blue Ruin," "Green Room" and "Rebel Ridge." A24 landed this latest project a little over a year ago after a heated bidding war that included Netflix.