Netflix surprised movie fans during the Super Bowl with an unexpected sneak peek of Brad Pitt reprising his role as stuntman Cliff Booth in David Fincher’s follow-up to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” titled “The Adventures of Cliff Booth.”
The teaser leans hard into throwback vibes, complete with retro needle-drops and a montage of Cliff Booth nursing a drink at a bar, roaming the shadowy corners of a movie set, and driving a demolition derby car on a dusty racetrack.
Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flashes of nudity, cigarettes, guns, middle fingers, and profanity are deliberately blurred out in a tongue-in-cheek censorship bit. Elizabeth Debicki and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II make brief appearances dressed in classic Old Hollywood attire, and, in one particularly loaded shot, Cliff is seen calmly setting an Oscar down on his desk.
The teaser ends with “Coming Soon,” which means the damn thing still isn’t dated — there isn’t even an official title stamped on the screen. We’re presuming it’s called “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” but who really knows. At least this marks the first time Netflix has acknowledged the project’s existence. The streamer never officially announced the film or its cast and has kept mum ever since news of the project leaked in February 2024.
This is set to be the third film Fincher directs for Netflix as part of the multi-year exclusive deal he signed with the streamer in 2018, which was renewed in 2023. So far, the partnership has produced “Mank” and “The Killer,” not to mention the excellent series “Mindhunter” — which still desperately needs another season to be greenlit.
Back in October, Variety reported that Netflix was contemplating a “robust rollout” for ‘Cliff Booth,’ and that the film was eyeing a summer 2026 launch. Is that still the plan? Not necessarily. Last month, Netflix did not include the film in its 2026 film slate, and the latest rumors have it potentially eyeing a fall bow.
No plot details have leaked about ‘Cliff Booth’ except that it’s set to take place a few years after Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.” Fincher’s go-to DP Erik Messerschmidt is taking the cinematographer on this one, replacing ‘Hollywood’ DP Robert Richardson.
NOTE: As of this writing, no video of the teaser is available on Netflix’s official YouTube channel, but that hasn’t stopped it from leaking online, especially in secondary channels — as seen below.
