What do you do as a filmmaker when all productions are at a standstill? Well, if you are Quentin Tarantino you get down to writing. The director just signed a deal with Harper/Collins publishers for a two-book deal. One of those books is actually due in 2021.
That first book is to be a novel, an adaptation of Tarantino’s 2019 blockbuster Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and it is set to arrive in the summer of 2021. As reported, the book will follow TV actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth as they navigate the radically changing Hollywood of 1969 against the background of the Mansion Family murders.
It is also said that for Tarantino, a movie novelization of his Oscar-winning film, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio (Dalton) and Brad Pitt (Booth), is an ode to a sub-genre of literature that was formative to his interest in storytelling. “In the seventies, movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,” Tarantino said in a statement. “And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre. So as a movie-novelization aficionado, I’m proud to announce Once Upon a time in Hollywood as my contribution to this often marginalized, yet beloved sub-genre in literature.”
The second book coming from the deal is a non-fiction work called Cinema Speculation that’s dedicated to his love for ’70s-era film. All of Tarantino’s movies play as a direct homage to that decade’s style of artful violence and gritty character types, so a non-fiction dive into that period in cinema history seems like a natural fit.
According to Deadline, the publisher describes Cinema Speculation as “a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing ‘what if’s,’ from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan.” There’s no public release date for that book as of yet, but Harper/Collins VP Noah Eaker shared his excitement for the novel version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
