Quentin Tarantino enjoyed one of his biggest hits with one of his most-against-the-grain films: the absurdly detailed (but, shall we say, mildly fanciful) 1969 survey Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. On top of being largely plotless and concerning a cult leader some younger viewers had never even heard of, it was nearly three hours long. And yet it was a monster hit, and as early as early August he was saying he may work on an even longer cut.
Well, that’s happening…eventually. In a new interview with Collider (caught by Entertainment Weekly), Tarantino dished on the super-duper-long version of OUATIH that he’s planning on releasing — again, eventually.
“Hey look, it’s all good so once this whole thing is said and done, maybe in a year’s time, we probably will [release it],” Tarantino said. “It’s all good. It’s all great. I don’t know if an audience would sit for it, but I love it. So we showed it to [Sony boss] Tom Rothman and it was like, ‘OK, here this all is. We know that this is a movie, but maybe you can help us out because we like everything.’”
Of course, Tarantino is notorious for announcing projects, even new versions of old films, and then not delivering or dropping them after much jibber-jabber. Only the lucky few have seen the spliced together cut of Kill Bill, which not only joins the two volumes together but includes additional scenes and a slightly different structure. That version has played one-offs in rep theaters but has never made it to home video.
But perhaps the continued obsession over OUATIH, especially when it involves Brad Pitt shirtless or preparing Kraft Mac and Cheese, will inspire Tarantino to deliver on his word. Give us more of Brandy the dog!
