Quentin Tarantino delved deep into his youth with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. For the film, which stars Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, the cult director casts a light on Los Angeles just before the start of the 1970s.
In the film, Pitt plays Cliff Booth, the stunt double of DiCaprio’s actor Rick Dalton, who is well past his prime. Tarantino builds in dark secret surrounding Cliff which he later aired in a novelized version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Novel version of Tarantino masterpiece solves murderous mystery
In the film it is explained that Cliff is suspected by many people in the film industry murdered his wife to have. He claims, however, that she died in an accident on the shared boat. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood leaves open whether Pitt’s character is behind the death.
At least the film, because in 2021 Tarantino released a novel version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood two years later. It roughly follows the plot of the film, but deepens the story and characters like Cliff Booth. There is also a passage in the book that explicitly describes the death of Cliff’s wife. After that, no more doubts remain:
The moment Cliff shot his wife with the shark gun, he knew it was a bad idea.
The film’s novel also describes how Cliff’s wife was torn in two by the gunshot and how he felt relieved afterwards about their unbearable relationship.
Pitt’s character will in the book generally much more ambiguous and abysmal described as appearing in the film version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Here Cliff Booth gets away much more as a cool character.
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