Quentin Tarantino to release two books, including a novelisation of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood
- Director has always said he will stop making films one day and transition to writing, and to that end he has landed a two-book deal with publisher Harper
- Tarantino promises a fresh take on his most recent, Oscar-winning film and a book of essays and personal writing about 1970s film, à la Pauline Kael
Quentin Tarantino’s next work of imagination will be in book form.
The Oscar-winning director has a two-book deal with Harper, beginning with a novelisation of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood that is scheduled for next summer.
Once Upon a Time will be a true Tarantino production: the book will come out first as a mass market paperback, like the old pulp novels the filmmaker loves, and will offer “a fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film”, according to Harper.
The film version of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood was released in 2019 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor and Brad Pitt as his stunt double. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winner of two, the movie is set in Los Angeles in 1969, around the time of the killings by Charles Manson’s followers.
“In the ’70s movie novelisations were the first adult books I grew up reading,” Tarantino 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.”