Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth Gets a Fresh New Look in David Fincher’s IMAX-Bound ‘The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth’
When Brad Pitt won an Oscar for playing Cliff Booth in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ the stuntman became one of the most quotable characters of Quentin Tarantino’s career. He was loyal, laconic and dangerous, and he left audiences wanting more. Seven years later, he is finally getting a second act with a very unusual creative team.
The sequel, ‘The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,’ pairs Tarantino’s script with director David Fincher, who has worked with Pitt on ‘Seven,’ ‘Fight Club’ and ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.’ Tarantino originally wrote the story with the intention of directing it himself, but he put it aside before Pitt convinced him to let Fincher take over. Netflix acquired the script in April 2025, and the film has been one of the most anticipated mysteries on the release calendar ever since.
Now a new look at Pitt in character has surfaced as part of an exclusive from Empire, which will publish the first joint interview with Tarantino and Fincher about the film in an issue going on sale Thursday, October 22. The image shows Cliff at a bar, arms thrown wide in a floral shirt, with shelves of liquor bottles lined up behind him.
New look at Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth in David Fincher’s ‘THE FURTHER MIS-ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH’. In IMAX theaters on November 25. (Source: https://t.co/f55XTmxEuo) https://t.co/NRVU1DjUYB
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 20, 2026
The picture captures a more relaxed Cliff than fans might expect from a fixer, and it fits the film’s setup. It is 1977, eight years after the events of ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ and Cliff is no longer working as a stuntman. He makes a living with odd jobs as a projectionist and bartender while operating as a freelance fixer who solves messy problems for Hollywood’s elite.
The bar setting lines up with that new career. Empire’s headline for the piece says the film has an ‘Elmore Leonard paperback’ flavor, which is Tarantino’s own description of the tone. It suggests a crime story with the dry humor and period grit that both filmmakers are known for.
Brad Pitt returns as Cliff Booth, only this time it’s 1977 and it’s a very different Hollywood. Directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, THE FURTHER MIS-ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH comes to IMAX November 25. https://t.co/XEEoN6U1xZ
— Netflix (@netflix) September 21, 2026
According to the official synopsis, Cliff gets a call from talent agent Karen Crosby, played by Elizabeth Debicki, on behalf of her client, TV megastar Charlie Peters (Scott Caan), a man known for doing his own stunts. The ensemble also includes Carla Gugino as Toni and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as pro football champion turned screen star Roderick ‘Hot Rod’ Harrison.
Timothy Olyphant returns as James Stacy, and Peter Weller, Corey Fogelmanis and Karren Karagulian round out the cast. The trailer, released in September, also addressed the absence of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, according to reports. It showed mud-soaked bar brawls, car chases and bags of money, all rendered in the nighttime palette associated with Fincher.
The film’s release strategy is nearly as unusual as its creative team. It will play exclusively in IMAX theaters worldwide for two weeks beginning November 25, then arrive on Netflix on December 23. It is the first Netflix movie to be released in IMAX theaters around the world and Fincher’s first film in theaters since ‘Gone Girl’ in 2014.
The slot was originally earmarked for Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,’ which Netflix moved to a wider theatrical release in February 2027. The ‘Cliff Booth’ window also comes with a notable footnote: Netflix will report the box office grosses for the IMAX run.
The movie is reportedly the most expensive project for both filmmakers, with a budget reported at $200 million. Fincher’s regular collaborators are on board, including cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, editor Kirk Baxter and production designer Donald Graham Burt, and Pitt is producing with Ceán Chaffin.
Tarantino has also turned the material into a novel. ‘The Adventures of Cliff Booth’ arrives from HarperCollins on December 8, landing between the IMAX opening and the Netflix premiere, so readers will have a second way to explore the character’s world.
For fans of both directors, the combination of Tarantino’s dialogue and Fincher’s precision remains a fascinating gamble, one that could end up a classic or an interesting experiment. With a new image, a trailer and a unique release plan in place, the film is finally ready to answer that question.
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