With Quentin Tarantino famously saying he will only direct 10 films, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood being his 9th, his devoted fans must be bracing themselves to say goodbye. However, after a recent interview with the renowned director, it seems as the end isn’t as nigh as we thought. In fact, the good news is even better for those who loved Tarantino’s last movie in particular, as the retirement delay is attributed to a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spin-off in Bounty Law.
It turns out, Tarantino has already written 5 35-minute episodes of the fictional TV show within the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood universe, in which Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, played Jake Cahill. On that note, it’s important to stress that this new project will be about Jake Cahill, and not Rick Dalton portraying Jake Cahill.
“It got an introduction from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I don’t really consider it part of that movie even though it is. This is not about Rick Dalton playing Jake Cahill. It’s about Jake Cahill,” Tarantino tells Deadline.
It’s only natural to think Tarantino has DiCaprio in mind for the miniseries, however, nothing has been confirmed.
From the glimpses of Bounty Law we got in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, you could tell Tarantino is intimately acquainted with the signature style of the westerns from this golden era. But to dedicate an entire project on this universe, he must be truly inspired rather than simply acquainted.
“Where all this came from was, I ended up watching a bunch of Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, and Tales of Wells Fargo, these half-hour shows to get in the mindset of Bounty Law, the kind of show Rick was on. I’d liked them before, but I got really into them.”
Besides the distinctive western vibe, it was also the compact, saturated format of these shows that excited Tarantino, who seems to have a penchant for storytelling in all its forms.
“The concept of telling a dramatic story in half an hour,” he says. “You watch and think, wow, there’s a helluva lot of storytelling going on in 22 minutes. I thought, I wonder if I can do that? I ended up writing five half-hour episodes. So I’ll do them, and I will direct all of them.”
In terms of a timeline, Tarantino said filming Bounty Law would take him an year and a half.