Quentin Tarantino surprised audiences at AFI Fest in Los Angeles by screening the first 17 minutes of The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the upcoming Netflix film starring Brad Pitt. The footage was shown on October 23 following a special screening of Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood at the TCL Chinese Theatre and a conversation with the filmmaker.
During the discussion, moderated by Rotten Tomatoes’ Jacqueline Coley, Tarantino offered the audience a choice between hearing more about the new film and watching its opening footage. He opted to screen the preview, giving attendees their first public look at the follow-up. David Fincher, who is directing the film from Tarantino’s screenplay, was also present at the event.
Pitt reprises his Oscar-winning role as Cliff Booth, the stuntman and Hollywood fixer introduced in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. The new film advances the story to 1977, eight years after the original’s 1969 setting, following Booth at a different stage of his life.
According to the film’s official synopsis, Hollywood no longer needs a stuntman like Cliff in quite the same way, but the industry still has problems that require his particular skills. Alongside working as a bartender and projectionist, he operates as a fixer, handling difficult situations for Hollywood’s powerful figures and, at times, its less respectable characters.
The story begins to take shape when Cliff receives a call from talent agent Karen Crosby, played by Elizabeth Debicki, on behalf of her client Charlie Peters, a television star played by Scott Caan. The cast also includes Carla Gugino as Charlie’s wife, Toni; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Roderick “Hot Rod” Harrison, a former professional football player turned screen star; and Peter Weller as Cliff’s father. Matt Groove and JB Tadena play the Verdusco brothers, gangsters who bring further trouble to Los Angeles.
The preview opens in June 1977, with Cliff working at the New Beverly Cinema, the Los Angeles theatre owned in real life by Tarantino. Having moved away from his previous career as a stuntman, Cliff now works behind the scenes as a projectionist and manager.
One sequence features Soul Brothers Die Hard, a fictional film starring Abdul-Mateen II’s Roderick Harrison. From the projection booth, Cliff watches the movie, recites dialogue alongside it and refills the theatre’s RC Cola canisters. The scene establishes his familiarity with the films playing around him while reflecting Tarantino’s longstanding interest in cinema.
Cliff later phones his father, a pawn shop owner played by Weller, to tell him that he has dedicated a song to him on a Los Angeles AM radio station. The footage then introduces an encounter involving stolen goods, including an Academy Award for Best Director, before the situation develops into a more explosive confrontation.
The opening retains the conversational, character-driven quality associated with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, while its criminal encounters suggest a darker direction for the new film. The official synopsis identifies murder, blackmail, theft and extortion among the story’s central elements, describing a crime narrative set in a different version of Hollywood.
Tarantino explained that his affection for Cliff and Pitt’s performance inspired him to return to the character. He described Booth as a “paperback hero”, someone whose personality could sustain a series of separate adventures rather than remain confined to a single story.
That idea allowed Tarantino to imagine what Cliff might do after the events of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Rather than directing the new film himself, he wrote the screenplay and entrusted Fincher with bringing the story to the screen. The change in roles gives the project a different creative dynamic, with Tarantino continuing to shape the character and his world through writing while Fincher leads the film’s direction.
The preview’s portrayal of 1977 Los Angeles offers an early indication of how The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth will distinguish itself from its predecessor. Pitt’s return brings the character back into focus, this time as a fixer navigating Hollywood’s criminal underworld rather than primarily as a stuntman.
The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is scheduled to open exclusively in IMAX theatres on November 25, 2026, before arriving on Netflix on December 23, 2026. The film reunites audiences with one of the central characters from Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, while pairing Tarantino’s screenplay with Fincher’s direction for a new chapter in Cliff Booth’s story.