You can’t break a perplexing news story on April Fool’s Day and not expect collective skepticism. The announcement that David Fincher will be directing a spin-off/sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, has all the hallmarks of a prank on April 1. Not only does it sound ridiculous, but it lacks any logic for either party. While we’re still on guard, waiting to be fooled, all signs indicate that this project for Netflix is a green light. Truthfully, we want to believe this is an April Fool’s prank, because a sequel to Tarantino’s unique and remarkable love letter to cinema is unwarranted. If Tarantino, who had already expanded the world of Hollywood in 1969 in novel form, were continuing the story of Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), we could be bought in. Fincher, who can often be somewhat of a cold filmmaker, might not have the emotional sensibilities required for a sequel to Tarantino’s most wholehearted film.
David Fincher Is Continuing the Story of Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth From Quentin Tarantino’s Script

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

David Fincher’s resume is unimpeachable. A distinct visionary behind a handful of modern classics, such as Seven, Zodiac, and The Social Network, Fincher’s reputation will never be tarnished in the film community. The only bad thing you can say about him is that he has resigned to indefinitely attaching himself to Netflix, a company he helped launch into a streaming empire with House of Cards. It’s a travesty that Gone Girl, which was released almost 11 years ago, will remain his last widely-released theatrical film for the foreseeable future. Proving to be more of a loyal business partner than a filmmaker curating the best scripts possible, Fincher was recently attached to develop an English-language Squid Game series for the streamer.

Fincher is notorious for attaching himself to projects that he abandons or never come to fruition, so there’s a world where the announcement of a Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood made-for-Netflix sequel will just be recalled as a bad dream. First reported by The Playlist, Deadline confirmed that Fincher will be resurrecting a Quentin Tarantino script that will see Brad Pitt — who has starred in three films by Fincher — reprising his Oscar-winning role as the washed-up and possibly murderous stunt double, Cliff Booth. Tarantino, who is so protective of his legacy that he is holding himself to a self-imposed 10-movie limit, is stunningly giving Fincher and Netflix his blessing to adapt Cliff’s unrealized adventures and exploits.
David Fincher Lacks the Proper Sentimentality To Direct This Quentin Tarantino Sequel

Between his exploits with fighting Bruce Lee and the allegations of his domestic homicide (with the OUATIH novelization more or less confirming that he is guilty of murdering his wife), there is plenty of lore to unpack in Cliff’s life. However, Tarantino’s novelization already serves as the proper supplement to his 2019 film, particularly with the Cliff mythology. Furthermore, The Movie Critic, Tarantino’s abandoned 10th and final film, by all accounts, would’ve seen Pitt returning as the stunt performer in a story about a Tarantino-esque cinephile working in Hollywood in the ’60s and ’70s. David Fincher adapting leftover material by another acclaimed director is a grave disservice to his own specialized talents. Without Tarantino’s direct guidance, additional Hollywood stories would feel like empty filler content, much like most of Netflix’s library.
The genius behind OUATIH is that, to everyone’s surprise, Tarantino shied away from the gruesome shock and horror of Sharon Tate’s (Margot Robbie) murder and instead celebrated her promising career and elevated her as someone beyond a footnote in American history. In his most sentimental effort, the film romanticizes the overlooked C-tier actors like Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Hollywood in its last days of innocence. Fincher, on the other hand, is hardly a romantic. If anything, he would’ve likely told the story from the perspective of the Manson murders.

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Rather than cherish Hollywood’s swan song, Fincher’s artistic mode would be to examine the downfall of the classic institution through the lens of greedy capitalists, akin to The Social Network. Despite also being a filmmaker drawn to violence and nihilistic tendencies, Tarantino possesses a warmth for Hollywood and the art of moviemaking that Fincher lacks. Based on his inclination towards being a streaming-only director, full embrace of digital photography, and his overall modernist deconstruction of the form, it doesn’t seem like Fincher is the kind of cinema enthusiast required for the Hollywood world.
Quentin Tarantino, who claimed Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is his “best movie,” suggests in his decision to expand upon the film’s lore that he wishes it was his swan song, and to see him sell off his magnum opus to another voice for a streaming release is dispiriting. Diluting the impact of OUATIH, a glorious ode to cinema, by creating an unnecessary streaming sequel feels like a perfect encapsulation of all the problems with the industry today.