EXCLUSIVE: Netflix’s highly-anticipated The Adventures of Cliff Booth is slowly but surely started to take shape as sources tell Deadline Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is joining Pitt, who is reprising the role that one him an Oscar. Elizabeth Debicki and Scott Caan are also on board with David Fincher directing from a script by Quentin Tarantino.
Plot details are vague but sources say the film will follow one of Tarantino’s characters as he now serves as a Hollywood fixer. As for who Mateen is playing, while not confirmed sources say the character would be in the vein of Jim Brown who famously ended is hall of fame football career early to focus on acting starring in such hits as The Dirty Dozen.
Netflix could not be reached for comment.
When news first broke that this movie was in the works, the town didn’t know what to believe at first given that the idea of this project came to be sounds like something straight out of a script. So here is the backstory of how this came to be.
Brad Pitt indeed got Tarantino’s blessing to show Pitt’s Se7en director David Fincher the script that focuses on subsequent adventures of Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood’s Cliff Booth character. And because Fincher is exclusive to Netflix, the movie — if it gets made — will be financed and released by Netflix, straight to streaming. Tarantino will be paid a fortune for his words, as he readies a play he’s written and works on the final film he’ll direct. That one seems headed for Sony, where Tarantino directed the first film. No way Tarantino would helm his final film for a streaming service, but he respects Fincher and Netflix has been Fincher’s domain since he helped establish the streaming giant with House of Cards.
As for Mateen, he next has the Marvel Studios Wonder Man, where he stars in the title role. He also stars and executive produces a Man on Fire series for Netflix. He will also star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Elegance Bratton’s crime thriller By Any Means
Mateen won an Emmy for his work on the HBO limited series Watchmen, and his other film projects include The Trial of chicago 7, Ambulance, Matrix Ressurection, Candyman and the Aquaman films.
He is repped by M88 and WME.
