Back in April, Quentin Tarantino said he was “thinking a lot” about writing a novel based on his Oscar-nominated film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Now, that novel has been confirmed for a 2021 release, alongside a non-fiction book from the director.
The books will be published by HarperCollins, Deadline reports, as part of a two book deal. The novel – which is set to arrive in June – will follow and expand upon the storyline of the 2019 film, which saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt play a fading actor and his stunt double, who end up crossing paths with the Manson family.
In a statement on the book, Tarantino declares himself “a movie-novelisation aficionado”, adding: “I’m proud to announce Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as my contribution to this often marginalised, yet beloved sub-genre 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.”
“Quentin Tarantino’s literary talents have been in plain sight since his first scripts,” HarperCollins vice president and executive editor, Noah Eaker, tells Deadline. “But to see how skillfully he endows his characters with life on the page and how he constantly takes a reader by surprise, even one who knows the movie by heart, is to see a master storyteller trying on a new form and making it his own.”
The non-fiction book is titled Cinema Speculation. Reportedly, it will provide: “a deep dive into the movies of the 1970s, a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing ‘what if’s’, from one of cinema’s most celebrated film-makers, and its most devoted fan.”
Tarantino is also set to direct a Once Upon A Time In Hollywood spin-off based on Bounty Law, the fictitious TV show that stars DiCaprio’s character in the film. In 2019, meanwhile, he hinted that he was writing yet another book, which would revolve around a World War II veteran and his struggle to reconnect with Hollywood movies.