Quentin Tarantino opens 17 minutes of Cliff Booth's new film at AFI Film Festival

During the 2026 AFI Film Festival, there was an IMAX screening and post-screening talk of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, and another film was temporarily added.On the evening of October 23, local time, Quentin Tarantino asked hundreds of spectators to put away their mobile phones, and then screened the opening 17 minutes of The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth directed by David Fincher.

Netflix later confirmed the screening via a press release.There have been rumors for weeks that the new film may premiere at the film festival in full, but as of this report, the time and location of the full premiere have not yet been announced.The film has been confirmed to be released in IMAX theaters around the world on November 25, including a two-week exclusive screening arrangement, and will be available on Netflix on December 23.

This 17-minute video was not simultaneously released online.A reporter from TheWrap was on hand to cover its opening pages.The full trailer of the film is now online, having previously been exclusively screened in theaters with Resident Evil.

The opening credits first reveal that the story takes place eight years after the previous film, and Cliff seems to have left the stunt double job.Today he runs the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles—actually, this arthouse theater has been owned by Tarantino since 2007.

The theater sign was showing a fictional blaxploitation film starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Roderick "Hot Rod" Harrison.A long strip club scene unfolded on the screen, and Cliff was operating the projection in the screening room, replenishing RC Coke, and reading lines along with the movie.He also requested a song to dedicate to his father through an AM radio station in Los Angeles, and then called the pawnshop owner played by Peter Weller, echoing the use of radio sounds in the previous film.

Karen Karagoulian (Anora) and Corey Fogelmanis (Girl Meets World) play two people lingering at the entrance of the theater.Cliff waved them in.One person said he looked familiar, and Cliff replied that he heard this sentence often.Later, he reportedly paid to accept a batch of stolen goods brought by the two, including an Oscar for Best Director.TheWrap mentioned in passing that Tarantino and Fincher have each been nominated for Best Director three times, but neither has yet won this award.

From here on, the story leads beyond gangsters, blackmail and the movie business, into what the official synopsis describes as a very different Hollywood.

Matt Neglia, who has seen the clip, didn't reveal much about the plot, saying only that the combination of Fincher directing Tarantino's script would be very interesting.Another viewer who spoke with the account @kenzie__xcx said that the opening 17 minutes reminded him of why he originally liked the character of Cliff and looked forward to continuing to watch his adventures.

Jacqueline Colley, who moderated the conversation, asked Tarantino why he wanted to write about Cliff again.He said that he likes this character and also likes Brad Pitt's interpretation; in his eyes, Cliff is like the protagonist in a popular novel series, and each book can be involved in different adventures.“As time passed, I began to think about writing another adventure for him.Now comes an unfortunate adventure.”

Tarantino also said that "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is a work that he is willing to rewatch because it allows people to enjoy the time spent with the characters and is not always driven by the plot.A film review once said that this was like the first world he created that even he wanted to live in. That sentence has always stayed in his heart.

The conversation also returned to some details from the production of the previous game.Burt Reynolds was originally scheduled to play George Spahn, the owner of the Spann Ranch, and participated in a complete script reading before passing away in 2018. The role was eventually played by Bruce Dern.“Burt Reynolds' last performance was as George Spann during a script reading.”Tarantino said.

Margot Robbie also has an almost imperceptible presence in the film: She also voices the Pan Am flight attendant as Rick and Cliff return from Italy.To this end, she rewatched the 2011 ABC drama series Pan Am in which she appeared to find the voice of the character, but very little of this dubbing was ultimately retained in the final film.

The denim jacket and jeans that Cliff wore early in the film are connected to an unfilmed experience in Tarantino's mind.He imagined that Cliff had served as a stand-in for Tom Laughlin, who played Billy Jack, during the last week of filming on The Born Losers, and ended up taking away his $200 bonus and the costume.

As for Cliff's trailer home, Tarantino felt that the art department didn't know the man as well as he did, so he personally decorated the scene with appropriate comics, paperback novels, toys and that month's TV Guide.