Quentin Tarantino is writing a novelization of âOnce Upon a Time ... In Hollywoodâ due next summer
NEW YORK â Quentin Tarantinoâs next work of imagination will be in book form.
The Oscar-winning director has a two-book deal with Harper, beginning with a novelization of âOnce Upon a Time ... In Hollywoodâ that is scheduled for next summer. âOnce Upon a Timeâ will be a true Tarantino production: The book will come out first as a mass market paperback, like the old pulp novels the filmmaker loves, and will offer âa fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film,â according to Harper.
The film version of âOnce Upon a Time ... In Hollywoodâ was released in 2019 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor and Brad Pitt as his stunt double. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winner of two, the movie is set in Los Angeles in 1969, around the time of the killings by Charles Mansonâs followers.
âIn the â70s movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,â Tarantino said in a statement Tuesday. âAnd to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre. So as a movie-novelization aficionado, Iâm proud to announce âOnce Upon a Time ... In Hollywoodâ as my contribution to this often marginalized, yet beloved sub-genre in literature. Iâm also thrilled to further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavor that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart.â
Tarantinoâs second book will be the nonfiction âCinema Speculation,â which Harper is calling âa deep dive into the movies of the 1970âsâ that draws in part on the directorâs admiration for the late New Yorker critic Pauline Kael. A release date has not been determined.
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âThe book will be a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing âwhat ifâs,â from one of cinemaâs most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan,â according to Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Several directors have written fiction in recent years, including Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg and Guillermo del Toro, and Michael Mann has been working on a prequel to his crime classic âHeat.â Tarantino, 57, may well have more time in the future for books.
He has said that he will retire from filmmaking after he completes 10 movies: âOnce Upon a Time ... In Hollywoodâ was his 9th. Tarantino had not turned 30 when he made his first feature-length film, âReservoir Dogs,â and he has claimed most directors lose their edge in their later years. Writing has long been part of his transition plans.
âI think when it comes to theatrical movies, Iâve come to the end of the road,â Tarantino, who has yet to announce plans for his next film, told GQ Australia last year. âI see myself writing film books and starting to write theater, so Iâll still be creative. I just think Iâve given all I have to give to movies.â