Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (novel)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel is the 2021 debut novel by Quentin Tarantino. It is a novelization of his 2019 film of the same name. Like the film, it follows the career arc of fictional action movie star Rick Dalton and his friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth. According to Tarantino, the novel is "a complete rethinking of the entire story" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth.[1] It debuted at number one on The New York Times' fiction best-seller list.[2]

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel
First edition cover
AuthorQuentin Tarantino
Audio read byJennifer Jason Leigh
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subjects
Genre
PublisherHarperCollins/Harper Perennial
Publication date
June 29, 2021
Media typePrint (paperback, hardcover), e-book, audiobook
Pages400
ISBN9780063112520 (paperback)

Differences from film
See also: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood § Plot, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood § Character details

The film's finale occurs towards the beginning of the novel, and its aftermath includes Rick Dalton earning newfound fame as a regular on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[3]

It also focuses on Charles Manson's pursuit of a music career[3] and the "inner worlds" of Sharon Tate and Trudi Frazer.[4] There is a chapter dedicated to the Manson Family's "creepy crawls". In it, Manson instructs "Pussycat" to break into a wealthy, elderly couple's house while they are sleeping.[5]: pages80-97 

Tarantino explains the inner thoughts of the controversial Bruce Lee–Cliff Booth fight, saying that Booth tricks Lee into the fight and Booth is fighting his own instinct to murder Lee more than Lee himself.[6]

The novel includes several chapters on the backstory of Lancer and its lead actor, James Stacy.[7]

It also contains a chapter detailing how Booth came to own his pit bull, Brandy,[8]: stated at:59:00–1:00:00  and another chapter focused on Booth living in France after escaping from a Filipino jungle as a POW.[5]: pages259-269  Tarantino based the Brandy and POW chapters on true stories.[8]: stated at:1:00:00–1:01:00 

Critique is given on a large amount of mid-century films and filmmakers through the minds of Tate, Dalton, and Booth.[7]

The final part of the novel involves a phone call between Rick Dalton and Trudi Frazer on the evening after their day shooting Lancer together. They do a line reading and reminisce about the day and Trudi reminds Dalton how lucky they are to do what they do, making him genuinely realize "for the first time in ten years... how fortunate he is and was."[5]: pages392–400  The scene was cut from the film for reasons of pacing and timing.[9]

Publication

In November 2020, Tarantino signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins. On June 29, 2021, he published his first novel, an adaptation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in paperback, eBook, and digital audio editions.[10] A deluxe hardcover was released on November 9, 2021.[11] The deluxe edition contains Once Upon a Time in Hollywood memorabilia, including a script for an episode of Rick Dalton's Bounty Law, entitled Incident at Inez written by Tarantino.[11][8]: stated at:33:00–35:00  Tarantino stated, "In the seventies movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading ... And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre."[10]

The audiobook is narrated by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who previously starred in Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.[12] According to Tarantino, her Hateful Eight character Daisy Domergue was "A Manson girl out west, like Susan Atkins or something."[13] On June 21, 2021, a trailer for the novel was released, containing never before seen footage from the film and narrated by Kurt Russell, who was also the film's narrator.[14]

Characters
See also: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood § Character details, and The Films of Rick Dalton

Many fictional and historical characters appear in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, including Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, and members of the Manson Family. Other characters who appear in the novel include:[5]

  • Aldo Ray -- an actor with a chapter titled and dedicated to him.
  • Curtis Zastoupil -- Tarantino's step-father and a pianist who plays at a bar that Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth and James Stacy frequent after Dalton's day on Lancer. Zastoupil obtains Dalton's autograph for a six-year-old Tarantino.[5]: pages360-369 
  • Dennis Wilson – The drummer for the rock band The Beach Boys.
  • Terry Melcher – The son of Doris Day and record producer for Columbia Records.
  • Candice Bergen – An actress and girlfriend of Melcher who lived with him on Cielo Drive.[15]: pages34-35 
  • Gregg Jakobson – A songwriter who worked for Melcher and became close with the Manson Family. He frequently recorded Manson's music.[15]: page35 
  • Andrew Duggan – The actor who portrayed Murdoch Lancer on the TV series Lancer, whose character seeks out his two estranged sons from different mothers, to help save his ranch from the land pirates.[16]
  • Caleb DeCoteau – The fictional lead villain and leader of the land pirates on the pilot episode of Lancer, portrayed by Rick Dalton.
  • Jim Brown – An actor and NFL star. While Brown is in Spain shooting 100 Rifles, Cliff Booth becomes known as "the only white man to ever win a fistfight with Jim Brown."[5]: page204 
  • Ace Woody – A rodeo cowboy who gives Sharon Tate a ride from her hometown of Dallas, Texas to New Mexico on her way to Los Angeles.[5]: pages98-104 
  • Janet Himmelsteen, introduced as Miss Himmelsteen is the secretary of Marvin Schwarz, Dalton's agent at the William Morris Agency. She goes on a date with Booth and in 1972 becomes an agent at William Morris. By 1975 she becomes one of their top agents.[5]: 25–44 

Other historical figures who appear as characters or are mentioned include[5]

Reception

Critical response

Dwight Garner of The New York Times said, "[Tarantino is] not out to impress us with the intricacy of his sentences. [...] He's here to tell a story in take-it-or-leave-it Elmore Leonard fashion. [...] He gets it: Pop culture is what America has instead of mythology."[3] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote: "Tarantino made a career alchemising movie trash into gold [...] Now he's done the same with ... the pulpiest of pulp fiction. [...] The book is entirely outrageous and addictively readable on its own terms."[4] Charles Arrowsmith of The Washington Post praised the novel's "authentically pulpy atmosphere" and Tarantino's "explosive dialogue" as being "almost as effective written down as read aloud."[17] Neal Pollack described the Lancer chapters as though "you've landed in a Louis L'Amour novel."[18]

Katie Rosseinsky of the Evening Standard wrote, "It's hard to escape the feeling that Tarantino is writing his own fanfiction - albeit with undeniable flair."[19] Kayleigh Donaldson of Pajiba said, "Tarantino's skills are not best suited to the form of the novel... It's almost fascinating how [the novel] makes the film less interesting."[20]

Sales

Upon publication, it became the number one selling book on Amazon.[21] The novel debuted at number one on The New York Times fiction best-seller list in its first week.[2]

Accolades

On September 1, 2021, Quentin Tarantino won the 2021 Writer Of The Year GQ Men Of The Year award for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.[22]

Music
Main article: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (music) § Novel

The novel contained printed lyrics of five credited songs not heard in the film with the permission of Hal Leonard LLC.[5]: 401 

Sequel
Main article: The Films of Rick Dalton

In June 2021, Tarantino revealed he wrote a complementary novel about the films of Rick Dalton, which he plans to publish.[8]: stated at:45:00–47:00 

References
  1. Noble, Alex (June 2, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino: "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Novel Will Explore Backstory of Brad Pitt's Character". TheWrap. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  2. "Combined Print & E-Book Fiction - Best Sellers - Books". The New York Times. July 3, 2021. Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  3. Garner, Dwight (June 28, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino Turns His Most Recent Movie Into a Pulpy Page-Turner". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  4. Bradshaw, Peter (June 28, 2021). "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood review - Tarantino's debut novel shines". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  5. Tarantino, Quentin (June 29, 2021). Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-311252-0.
  6. Rogan, Joe (June 29, 2021). "#1675 - Quentin Tarantino". The Joe Rogan Experience (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:45:00-1:50:00. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021 – via Spotify.
  7. Willman, Chris (July 3, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Novel Is a Cineaste-Baiting Blast, With Big Departures From the Movie: Book Review". Variety. Archived from the original on July 4, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  8. Goldsmith, Jeff (July 4, 2021). "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Q&A - Quentin Tarantino". The Q&A (Podcast). Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2021 – via Google Podcasts.
  9. Parker, Ryan (July 8, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Scene in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Didn't Make the Film But Is in the Novelization". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  10. Shaffer, Claire (November 17, 2020). "Quentin Tarantino Lands Book Deal, Including "Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood" Novelization". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  11. Collis, Clark (September 13, 2021). "Cliff Booth steers into trouble in first look at hardcover of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelization". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 13, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  12. Bui, Hoai-Tran (May 14, 2021). ""Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is Getting an Audiobook by Jennifer Jason Leigh". /Film. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  13. Truitt, Brian (December 23, 2015). "Jennifer Jason Leigh gives life to devilish Daisy in "Hateful Eight"". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  14. Lane, Carly (June 21, 2021). "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Novelization Trailer Reveals Never-Before-Seen Footage". Collider. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  15. Sanders, Ed (1971). The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion. New York City: Avon. ISBN 1-56025-396-7. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  16. Magers, Boyd. "Lancer". westernclippings. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  17. Arrowsmith, Charles (June 29, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino turned his last movie into a novel, but don't think you know the ending". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  18. Pollack, Neal (July 16, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino's Cliff Notes". Book & Film Globe. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  19. Rosseinsky, Katie (June 28, 2021). "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino review: Pulp fan fiction with the usual flair and flaws". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  20. Donaldson, Kayleigh (July 2, 2021). "Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood the Book Somehow Makes the Film Way Less Interesting". Pajiba. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  21. D'Alessandro, Anthony; Patten, Dominic (June 29, 2021). "Quentin Tarantino Now Bestselling Author Too With 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: A Novel'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  22. "GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2021 winners: from Ed Sheeran to Anthony Hopkins". GQ. September 1, 2021. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
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