Quentin Tarantino has made the leap from filmmaker to novelist, setting up a two-book deal at HarperCollins imprint Harper on Tuesday.
The 57-year-old filmmaker will delve through familiar territory for his first book, a novelization of his 2019 Best Picture nominee Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The announcement from HarperCollins also revealed his second book will be a nonfiction piece entitled Cinema Speculation.
New author: Quentin Tarantino has made the leap from filmmaker to novelist, setting up a two-book deal at HarperCollins imprint Harper on Tuesday.
Novel: The 57-year-old filmmaker will delve through familiar territory for his first book, a novelization of his 2019 Best Picture nominee Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Tarantino wrote and directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which followed aging star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his faithful stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).
The movie follows their trials and tribulations in the summer of 1969 as they try to survive in a very different Hollywood, while rising star Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) moves into the home next to Dalton’s.
The film earned $142.5 million domestic and $374.3 million worldwide on just a $90 million budget, picking up 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
Director: Tarantino wrote and directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which followed aging star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his faithful stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt)
Trials: The movie follows their trials and tribulations in the summer of 1969 as they try to survive in a very different Hollywood, while rising star Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) moves into the home next to Dalton’s
Tarantino had previously hinted at a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelization, which the announcement claims will ‘amplify’ the director’s original vision.
The book will also offer, ‘a fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film,’ while following both Dalton and Booth, ‘both forward and backward in time.’
The book will be published in the same tradition as the movie novelizations Tarantino loved as a child, first as a mass market paperback in the Summer of 2021, along with an e-book and digital audio editions.
Forward and backward: The book will also offer, ‘a fresh, playful and shocking departure from the film,’ while following both Dalton and Booth, ‘both forward and backward in time’
HarperCollins will also publish a deluxe hardcover edition of the novel in the Fall of 2021 as well.
‘In the seventies movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,’ Tarantino said in a statement.
‘And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre. So as a movie-novelization aficionado, I’m proud to announce Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as my contribution to this often marginalized, yet beloved sub-genre in literature,’ the director added.
Adult books: ‘In the seventies movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,’ Tarantino said in a statement
‘I’m also thrilled to further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavor that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart,’ he concluded.
‘Quentin Tarantino’s literary talents have been in plain sight since his first scripts, 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,’ added Vice President and Executive Editor Noah Eaker, who acquired North American rights from the William Morris Endeavor Agency.
The second book entitled Cinema Speculation, which will mark his first foray into writing about film, in honor of one of his ‘literary hero,’ film critic/author Pauline Kael.
Characters: ‘In the seventies movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,’ Tarantino said in a statement
Second book: The second book entitled Cinema Speculation, which will mark his first foray into writing about film, in honor of one of his ‘literary hero,’ film critic/author Pauline Kael
The book is described as, ‘a deep dive into the movies of the 1970’s’ filled with, ‘a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing “what if’s,” from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan.’
Tarantino has hinted about writing books in the past after he retires from filmmaking, which he has said many times that he will do after making one more feature film, his 10th total, though he has yet to announce what that final film will be.
Many thought his final film would be a Star Trek project, after he pitched an idea to J.J. Abrams, but he said in January that the film will likely happen, though he won’t direct.
Deep dive: The book is described as, ‘a deep dive into the movies of the 1970’s’ filled with, ‘a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing “what if’s,” from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan’