Director Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to long films. At three hours and seven minutes 2015's THE HATEFUL EIGHT remains his longest movie with DJANGO UNCHAINED, JACKIE BROWN, and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS all clocking in at over two-and-a-half hours. His latest magnum opus, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, follows suit weighing in at a hefty two hours and forty minutes. However, if multiple scenes of Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth and Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton cruising the streets of Los Angeles wasn't enough for you fear not. Audiences are about to get more of Rick and Cliff's adventures – a lot more.
In a recent Q & A session after a screening of ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD at the ArcLight in L.A., Tarantino was asked about possibly releasing an extended four hour cut of the film. (Fans may recall that an extended version with an extra ten minutes did make it into theaters in October of last year.) At first Tarantino was somewhat coy about the prospect, talking instead about seeking assistance on whittling down the cut from Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures:
“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 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.'”
Ever the instigator, Brad Pitt egged on the crowd asking when audiences might see the four hour version of the film. Tarantino finally relented saying, “Hey look, it’s all good so once this whole thing is said and done, maybe in a year’s time, we probably will.”
This wouldn't be the first time Quentin Tarantino has tinkered with his previous films. Last year Tarantino released an extended cut of DEATH PROOF and he recut THE HATEFUL EIGHT on Netflix into a four part mini-series. He's also previously stated there's a director's cut of DJANGO UNCHAINED. You can also watch the long discussed KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOOD AFFAIR but only at the New Beverly theater in Los Angeles. Man this guy does almost as much tinkering as George Lucas.
So what do you guys think. Would you be interested in seeing a four hour cut of ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD? Do you think the current runtime is sufficient? What do you think is up next for Quentin Tarantino? Sound off in the comments below!