I am really excited about the paperback edition release of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood. What is unique about the book it is written by the filmmaker. Tarantino‘s love for movie novelization paperbacks from the 70s is the inspiration for this book. It has that 70s look, this is one book I am not missing.
The novelization of popular movies was an extension of the movie experience. When Star Wars came out, fans wanted more and the quick fix was the paperback edition of Star Wars ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, but credited to George Lucas. The book was titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker in December 1976 by Ballantine Books, six months before the theatrical release of Star Wars. The novelizations of Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) sold millions of copies.
So the thing that makes Quentin’s book special is that it solely written by him. This should be a welcome addition for fans of the movie. I am happy the movie was released two years after the movie and not promoted during the release of the movie.
Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited first work of fiction – at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal – is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film
The Oscar-winning director has a two-book deal with Harper, beginning with a novelization of “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood” that is scheduled for this 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.
“In the seventies, movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading,” says Tarantino in the press release. “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. I’m also thrilled to further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavor that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart.”
Tarantino’s second book will be the nonfiction “Cinema Speculation,” which Harper is calling “a deep dive into the movies of the 1970’s” that draws in part on the director’s admiration for the late New Yorker critic Pauline Kael. A release date has not been determined.
“The book will be 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,” according to Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Several directors have written fiction in recent years, including Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg, and Guillermo del Toro, and Michael Mann has been working on a prequel to his crime classic “Heat.” Tarantino, 57, may well have more time in the future for books.
He has said that he will retire from filmmaking after he completes 10 movies: “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood” was his 9th. Tarantino had not turned 30 when he made his first feature-length film, “Reservoir Dogs,” and he has claimed most directors lose their edge in their later years. Writing has long been part of his transition plans.
“I think when it comes to theatrical movies, I’ve come to the end of the road,” Tarantino, who has yet to announce plans for his next film, told GQ Australia last year. “I see myself writing film books and starting to write theater, so I’ll still be creative. I just think I’ve given all I have to give to movies.”
- Tarantinoesque was recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary to describe this unique American storyteller’s work. There is simply no other writer-director like Tarantino—his brilliant dialogue, surprising plotting, and original narrative style have earned him a passionate and devoted fanbase worldwide. He will support the book’s publication with the kind of extensive national media tour he does for his movies.
- Tarantino revisits the world of his film, providing original and unique content that makes for a surprising and sometimes shocking reading experience. The novel explores the characters’ backstories, providing important details and information, and expands the story beyond the film’s ending. Tarantino delves deeper into the always fascinating figure of Charles Manson, offering his own take on his motivations, and even answers a central mystery of the film: “Did Cliff Booth kill his wife?”
- Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood earned almost $400 million at the box office and won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Production Design, and was nominated for eight more, including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director for Tarantino. But even for fans who have watched the movie multiple times, this book holds a surprise or new spin on almost every page.
- We are publishing the book in mass market—alongside e-book and audio editions—to pay homage to Tarantino’s fervent love of the format, and particularly to the lost art of the movie novelization. The book’s package will model mass-market tie-ins of the period and will be a love letter to the 1970s paperback. Tarantino’s passion as a book lover will also be on full display as he promotes widely.
- Harper will publish a deluxe hardcover edition of Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood in Fall 2021 that will feature much more additional material. After that, we will publish Tarantino’s first work of nonfiction, Cinema Speculation, which is his unique take on 1970s movies.