The Movie Critic should have been the sequel to Once Upon a Time, with Brad Pitt!
The story of stuntman Cliff Booth, ten years later?
Quentin Tarantino decided not to end its work on The Movie Critic. His 10th and final film will ultimately not be this one. And since the project is now abandoned, we know more about what he could have said. Surprise: it must have been a sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood !
Yes, The Movie Critic was to take place in the same universe as the acclaimed 2019 feature film and Brad Pitt should have made the connection, reprising his role from stuntman Cliff Booth. This would have been a great first for Tarantino, who is not in the habit of making sequels (he considers Kill Bill as one big film). It's unclear exactly what he would have done, but The Hollywood Reporter reports that the filmmaker evolved his plans along the way. The initial scenario of The Movie Critic had no direct relationship with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and was inspired by a cynical film critic that the filmmaker read when he was young. It was as development progressed that he had the idea of integrating Cliff Booth.
Knowing that the story of The Movie Critic was to take place in 1977 in California, the film would probably have been a sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywoodwhich took place in 1969. It should be noted that Quentin Tarantino has already written a novelization of his 2019 film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novelwhose events take place after those of the feature film, therefore The Movie Critic could have potentially adapted the book.
The project The Movie Critic was scheduled to be shot for one day in August to qualify for a $20.5 million California tax credit, before actually beginning production in early 2025. So that's not going to happen.
