Netflix dropped the surprise first look at Brad Pitt returning as stuntman Cliff Booth in “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the sequel to Quentin Tarantino‘s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” during the Super Bowl.
The short teaser was set to retro music and showed Cliff kicking back at a bar, walking behind the scenes of a film set and behind the wheel of a derby car on a dirt race track. It starts with the stuntman icing his knee and meeting Elizabeth Debicki and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s characters, both dressed up in fancy Old Hollywood clothing. There were a few shots of nude women, cigarettes, middle fingers, guns and people cursing that were dashed out in a cheeky censorship gag throughout the teaser. Finally, there was a shot of Cliff placing an Oscar on his desk — a nod to Pitt winning his first acting Oscar for his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” role.
The cool, charming stunt double was first introduced in Tarantino’s original movie in 2019 and is back for more in a sequel helmed by David Fincher. Tarantino wrote the script, but opted to give Fincher the reins to direct, as the original “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” director is still on the hunt for his 10th and final film to make. Fincher’s relationship with Netflix dates back to his “Mindhunter” TV series days and includes his recent films “The Killer” and “Mank.”
“Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” ended with Booth and his principle performer and friend Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) revising history by killing the Manson family murderers on the night that they would have killed Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent in 1969. “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” picks up in the 1970s. While DiCaprio’s Dalton is not expected to return in the spinoff, Booth is back in action alongside new characters played by Scott Caan, Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Holt McCallany, and JB Tadena. Timothy Olyphant is also confirmed to reprise his “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” role of James Stacy.
Tarantino serves as a producer alongside Pitt, David Heyman, Ceán Chaffin and Stacey Sher. Frequent Fincher collaborator Erik Messerschmidt serves as the film’s director of photography. The film was shot on-location in Los Angeles.