Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Could Get A Miniseries, According To Brad Pitt

brad pitt in once upon a time in Hollywood

Brad Pitt has worked with director Quentin Tarantino numerous times, most recently for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He’s commented about working with Quentin Tarantino and more, and recently he revealed the famous director has even toyed with the idea of turning Once Upon A Time In Hollywood into a streaming series, similar to what happened with The Hateful Eight.

Brad Pitt confirmed Quentin Tarantino has considered turning the story of Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth into a longer saga, that could be housed on a streamer. If you ask Pitt, it’s an “arousing” thought.

Yeah, he's talked about it. It's a pretty arousing idea.

New York Times profiler Kyle Buchanan threw some outtakes from his interview with Brad Pitt on Twitter, one of which highlighted the idea that Quentin Tarantino could eventually make a series out of his recent film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. The idea would presumably be similar to what Quentin Tarantino did with The Hateful Eight.

Basically, when The Hateful Eight hit Netflix earlier this year, Quentin Tarantino added cut footage and released it in a way that was closer to longer form television. The series is in four episodes and each episode is around 50 minutes in length.

We already know there was plenty of footage cut from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. In particular, it’s been noted that scenes involving Damon Herriman’s Charles Manson were cut from the film and an elongated miniseries could change that. In addition, other stuff with Bruce Lee and more was edited out for various reasons.

Still, if Brad Pitt has his way, perhaps a miniseries on a streamer like Netflix would not be the route. He, in fact, seems to be pushing more for “long-form film,” although the idea of doing what Quentin Tarantino did with The Hateful Eight is also appealing. According to Brad Pitt,

I'm still going to be pushing for the long-form film, because that's where my heart lies. But they almost have to be some kind of event for them not to get lost in the vast ocean of content. On the other hand, I look at the series where you can spend much more time on characters and story and explore angles you don't always get to do in films. So much of these films end up on the cutting room floor because they just don't fit in that box. That's why I think it's interesting that Tarantino took Hateful Eight and ostensibly repurposed it as a three-part series. It's almost the best of both worlds: You have the cinema experience that exists, but you can actually put more content in the series format.

It's worth pointing out that it has been a rumor for a while that Quentin Tarantino could head to a streaming service and work on something that's not straight big screen projects once his 10th -- and what he says will be his last -- film wraps.

Ultimately, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is still in theaters, and will likely continue garnering attention as we head into awards season. Still, the movie likely won't come to Netflix or another streaming service for a while. Therefore, even if this miniseries version becomes a reality it won't be happening tomorrow or anything.

On the bright side, The Hateful Eight miniseries is already a reality over at Netflix. Quentin Tarantino previously revealed he did it because there was simply so much good material he and editor Fred Raskin wanted to be available for fans. Only time will tell if Once Upon A Time will receive the same treatment. But for now, you can catch plenty of his content streaming.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.