Why is Netflix releasing ‘Cliff Booth,’ the sequel to Sony’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”? That’s remained a mystery for many months now, but we finally have an answer — and it makes total sense.
Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman is telling Variety that ‘Cliff Booth’ ended up at Netflix because Quentin Tarantino was not comfortable with anyone other than David Fincher directing his script.
Because David Fincher is exclusive to Netflix. We were going to make the movie when Quentin [Tarantino] was directing it, but he decided that he didn’t want to do it and changed course. The only other person that he was comfortable directing his script was David Fincher, and David Fincher was exclusive to Netflix, so we were not going to stand in anybody’s way.
When asked if he’s disappointed that Sony doesn’t have the sequel, Rothman replied with a simple, “yes.”
Fincher, who had his Netflix contract renewed in 2023, has been all-in with Netflix for over thirteen years now, diving headfirst into streaming by creating shows such as “House of Cards,” “Mindhunter,” and “Love, Death + Robots” — not to mention three films, “Mank,” “The Killer,” and the upcoming ‘Cliff Booth.’ In fact, Fincher has gone so far as to claim, “Netflix is the future of cinema.”
Now, why would Tarantino so adamantly want Fincher to direct ‘Cliff Booth’? After all, aren’t there plenty of other great filmmakers who could do the job?
A few years ago, I mentioned how a source close to Tarantino had told me that the filmmaker had fallen madly in love with Fincher’s “The Killer” from 2023, with Tarantino calling the film a “masterpiece” and one of the best things he’s seen this decade — which, if I had to guess, led to Tarantino seeking out Fincher for ‘Cliff Booth.’
Along with that, Tarantino has publicly praised “Fight Club,” “Zodiac,” and “The Social Network,” later adding, “I think me and David Fincher are the two best directors.”
And so, we await ‘Cliff Booth,’ which is supposed to wrap post-production sometime in October and release exclusively in IMAX theaters on November 25 for four weeks, before its December 23 streaming premiere on Netflix.
The theatrical version runs 108 minutes, so we're talking a nearly 2-hour-10-minute cut of a movie that works because it's lean, and I'm not sure anyone needs that.