LOS ANGELES – Quentin Tarantino did more than talk about his revered 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" at AFI Fest 2026 on Friday, Oct. 23.
He brought along a blockbuster surprise.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker unveiled the first 17 minutes of the wildly anticipated sequel, "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth," directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, bringing the film-lover's night to a rousing conclusion at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre.
"Well, I could talk a little bit about 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,' or I could show you the first 17 minutes," Tarantino told the cheering audience at the end of a Q&A following an IMAX screening of his original film.
The audience was enthralled with the footage, marking
the first public look at the sequel, one of the rare Netflix films to open in IMAX theaters (Nov. 25) before streaming (Dec. 23).
Pitt reprises his Oscar-winning role as Cliff Booth, the laid-back stuntman and loyal sidekick to Leonardo DiCaprio's fading TV star Rick Dalton in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
Tarantino, who wrote the sequel but handed directing duties to Fincher, explained that his affection for Booth and Pitt's portrayal inspired him to revisit the character.
The filmmaker recalled one of the rare positive reviews that stuck with him, suggesting that "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" was the first fictional world Tarantino had created that he might actually want to inhabit.
"There is that aspect about that," Tarantino said. "And the thing about it was, I love the Cliff Booth character. I love the way that Brad played him."
Tarantino said he envisioned Booth as a character who could sustain a series of adventures, much like the heroes of vintage paperback novels.
"There was this aspect of him of sort of like a paperback hero," Tarantino said. "I could see like a series of paperbacks for Cliff Booth getting involved with this adventure or that adventure or something like that."
As time passed, the idea of sending Booth on another adventure became increasingly appealing. Or, as Tarantino put it, another misadventure.
"I wanted to see what would happen with that," he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tarantino rocks film fest with first 17 minutes of Brad Pitt's 'Cliff Booth' sequel
