Overview
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is one of last year's very best movies. It's one of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino's best features, too, and it won Brad Pitt an Oscar earlier this year. If you loved it, have rewatched it multiple times and have even checked out the making-of documentary that hit YouTube earlier in 2020, then you'll be pleased to hear about Tarantino's next Once Upon a Time in Hollywood-related project — because he's turning the movie into a new novelisation.
Publisher Harper Collins has announced a two-book deal with the Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds director, including a movie based on his ten-time Academy Award-nominated latest movie. But while said novel will chart the events already seen on-screen, it'll also add to the story. Readers can apparently expect "a fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film" according to the publisher's statement announcing the news, with the book following TV actor Rick Dalton (as played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt) "both forward and backward in time".
Yes, Tarantino will be penning the text, which marks his first foray into printed fiction. Set to release in 2021, there'll be multiple versions available. A paperback is due to release by mid next year, along with ebook and digital audio editions. Then, come the second half of 2021, you'll be able to pick up a hardcover edition.
In the aforementioned statement, Tarantino waxed lyrical about his love of novelisations — aka books that relay the narrative of big-screen releases. "In the 70s, movie novelisations were the first adult books I grew up reading," he said. "And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre. So as a movie-novelisation aficionado, I'm proud to announce Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as my contribution to this often marginalised, yet beloved subgenre in literature. I'm also thrilled to further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavour that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart."
For his second book in the Harper Collins deal, Tarantino will be going the non-fiction route — and veering away from his most recent flick. Called Cinema Speculation, it'll focus on movies from the 70s, combining "essays, reviews, personal writing and tantalising 'what if'-style pieces.
In the interim, you can check out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's trailer below. And, you can read our full review of the movie, too.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelisation is due to hit shelves in mid-2021 — we'll update you with an exact release date when it is announced.