Netflix and David Fincher’s “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” is steadily coming together, with Deadline reporting that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) is set to join the cast.
Brad Pitt will return to his Oscar-winning role, alongside Elizabeth Debicki and Scott Caan. The film will be directed by Fincher, working from a screenplay written by Quentin Tarantino. Although not officially confirmed, sources suggest that Mateen’s character is modeled after Jim Brown, the legendary football player who retired early from his Hall of Fame career to pursue acting, gaining fame for roles in films such as “The Dirty Dozen.”
The film, primarily centered on Booth’s “continuing adventures,” will be financed and released by Netflix. While Tarantino won’t be directing the project, Deadline’s sources report that “he’ll earn a significant payday for the script as he focuses on staging a play he’s written and preparing his final directorial effort, which is expected to go through Sony.”
The story now finds Booth operating as a Hollywood studio fixer—someone who handles problems behind the scenes when things go sideways. Leonardo DiCaprio is also rumored to be circling a small appearance, though nothing is official yet. Netflix offered the actor $3M for the cameo.
I should add that Fincher is also looking to cast the role of a Filipino mobster and film financier by the name of Bill Vergara. So, expect more casting in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Pitt has finally spoken, for the first time, about the project. Here’s what he had to tell ExtraTV about the sequel, which is supposed to start production in the coming weeks:
We’re doing another episode in the Cliff Booth character’s life. It was written by Quentin [Tarantino], and David Fincher is going to direct, and we are going to shoot it all in L.A., and it is going to be great fun.