Cliff Booth’s next act: Quentin Tarantino’s new novel arrives as David Fincher directs the sequel

NEW YORK (AP) — Quentin Tarantino has stepped back from directing in recent years, but he continues to build upon his career as an author. The upcoming spinoff from his “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” will be accompanied by Tarantino’s novelization of the new film.The Oscar-winning filmmaker’s second novelization, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” will come out Dec. 8. It’s Tarantino’s take on “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” in which Brad Pitt returns in the title role as a former Hollywood stuntman. David Fincher is directing, from a screenplay by Tarantino, who also published a novelized version of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”According to Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, the new book “offers Tarantino’s own creative vision for this story in novel form.”“Can’t wait for audiences to see and read Cliff Booth’s further adventures,” Tarantino said in a statement released Tuesday by Harper.Tarantino is best known for such films as “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “Reservoir Dogs.” He hasn’t directed a feature film since “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” which came out in 2019, but has written the two novelizations and a work of film criticism-autobiography, “Cinema Speculation.”