Quentin Tarantino to write a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelization

Here's some news that's as real as a donut: Quentin Tarantino is writing a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel.

The writer and director has signed a two-book deal with an imprint of HarperCollins, under which he's set to write a novelization of his acclaimed 2019 film, Deadline and The Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The other book will be nonfiction and explore films of the 1970s.

Tarantino said on Tuesday he has a "tremendous amount of affection" for movie novelizations, describing the upcoming book as his "contribution to this often marginalized, yet beloved sub-genre in literature." He added that the novel will "further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavor that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart." The film takes place in Los Angeles in 1969 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as actor Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as stuntman Cliff Booth.

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Tarantino had previously teased a potential novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and explained that he originally conceived it as a novel. He has also announced plans to retire from directing after his next movie, at which point he says he might focus on writing books and plays.

"I kind of feel this is the time for the third act [of my life] to just lean a little bit more into the literary, which would be good as a new father, as a new husband," Tarantino said earlier this year, per IndieWire. "I wouldn't be grabbing my family and yanking them to Germany or Sri Lanka or wherever the next story takes place. I can be a little bit more of a homebody, and become a little bit more of a man of letters."