Quentin Tarantino teases 'Cliff Booth' at AFI Fest, puts his tenth film on hold for a West End play

Quentin Tarantino is back in the entertainment headlines this week, and not because of a new movie he is directing. The filmmaker gave fans a surprise first look at “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the sequel he wrote to “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” and he has been talking openly about his first stage play and the status of his long-promised tenth and final feature.

Here is what has been reported so far.

What did Quentin Tarantino show at AFI Fest?

On Friday night, Oct. 23, Tarantino appeared at AFI Fest at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood after a screening of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” At the end of a Q&A moderated by Rotten Tomatoes’ Jacqueline Coley, he offered the crowd a choice, according to Variety: he could talk a little about “Cliff Booth,” or he could show the first 17 minutes. He showed the footage.

Deadline described it as the first public look at the film. Key details from the reports:

• Director: David Fincher, who was in attendance, directed the film from Tarantino’s screenplay.
• Star: Brad Pitt returns as stuntman Cliff Booth, the role that won him an Oscar for the 2019 film.
• Setting: The story picks up in 1977, eight years after the original’s 1969 timeline. In the official logline, Booth works as a bartender and projectionist and as a Hollywood “fixer.”
• Cast: People reports that Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan and Timothy Olyphant also appear.
• Release: Netflix plans a theatrical release in IMAX on Nov. 25, before the film streams on Netflix starting Dec. 23, according to Deadline.

Why did Tarantino go back to Cliff Booth?

Tarantino told the AFI audience that one line from a review of the original film stuck with him: that it seemed like the first world he had created that he would like to live in. “I loved the Cliff Booth character,” he said, according to Variety.

People also reports that he has announced a companion novel, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” set in the same 1977 Hollywood. It follows his 2021 novelization of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

What is ‘The Popinjay Cavalier’?

It is Tarantino’s first stage play, which Variety describes as a “swashbuckling comedy.” Sacha Baron Cohen will star. Variety reports that it opens at London’s Phoenix Theatre next March after previews in late February and is scheduled to close June 13. People reports that rehearsals begin in November.

Tarantino told Variety the project started out as a screenplay before he realized “it really worked as a play.”

Is Quentin Tarantino making a tenth movie?

He has written one, but it is on hold. Tarantino has long said he will retire from directing features after his tenth film. On a recent episode of “The Graham Norton Show,” he confirmed he has finished a script for it, according to Variety.

“I’ve written a script that I really like, but I want to do the play and see who I am,” he said on the show. He added that he then plans to spend time with his family and “live a little” before deciding what comes next.

No title, cast, studio or start date for that film has been announced, and Tarantino has not said what it is about. Any timeline beyond the play’s run is speculation for now.

‘A man of letters’

At AFI Fest, Tarantino, 63, also talked about writing outside of film. “I’m a writer and that’s just kind of what I do. I’m always writing something,” he said, according to People. “As I’m getting older, being a man of letters is more my thing. So screenplays and books and plays and everything except poetry. I don’t think I’m very good at poetry.”

FAQ