A newly surfaced poster and IMDb credits strongly suggest Fincher’s longtime musical collaborators are returning for his Brad Pitt sequel, though Netflix has yet to confirm their involvement.
At this point, a David Fincher movie without Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross would be the real surprise. The Oscar-winning composers appear to be back for “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” Fincher’s upcoming sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” with Brad Pitt returning as everyone’s favorite suspiciously unflappable stuntman. After more than 15 years of collaboration, the reunion seems practically inevitable, though what the duo might cook up for the sleazy, sunbaked world of 1970s Hollywood is another matter entirely. The film’s first teaser also reportedly featured a funk-inflected cover by the musicians, suggesting they might be having a little more fun with the period than their usual electronic menace would suggest.
Reznor and Ross have been Fincher’s go-to composers since their Oscar-winning work on “The Social Network,” and they’ve since scored “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” “Mank,” and “The Killer.” Their music has become such an integral part of the director’s sensibility that it’s hard to imagine certain scenes without those ominous pulses, industrial groans, and deceptively delicate melodies underneath. As the duo explained in a previous Playlist interview, even the seemingly soothing music of “Gone Girl” came from Fincher’s desire to make something more subtly subversive. Still, a Hollywood crime story set in 1977 offers considerably more room for funk, swagger, and musical mischief than, say, watching a professional assassin meticulously prepare for another miserable day at work.
The apparent news comes courtesy of a new poster that surfaced via Cinema Solace, with corresponding music credits already appearing on IMDb as well—the latter generally unreliable far in advance of a film’s release, but considerably more trustworthy this close to its premiere. While Netflix has yet to confirm Reznor and Ross’ involvement—and has not responded to recent requests for comment—the authenticity of the newly surfaced poster also remains unverified. Still, their return seems like a fairly safe bet. The duo’s participation has been whispered about for some time, and given their longstanding relationship with Fincher, another collaboration would hardly qualify as a shocking development. If anything, the apparent revelation feels like someone finally saying aloud what everyone already assumed.
Of course, the bigger curiosity remains the creative marriage of Fincher and Tarantino, two filmmakers whose sensibilities are not exactly interchangeable. Tarantino wrote the screenplay but handed directing duties to Fincher, who previously worked with Pitt on “Se7en,” “Fight Club,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” One filmmaker loves loose-limbed conversations, pop-cultural detours, and characters who can talk themselves into or out of just about anything. The other prefers precision, control, and the creeping suspicion that everything is about to go terribly wrong. Putting Tarantino’s dialogue through Fincher’s machinery sounds like a pretty entertaining experiment, especially with Reznor and Ross potentially supplying the soundtrack. The project also reportedly kept Fincher from reuniting with Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Reckoning,” which Sorkin ultimately directed himself.
Set in 1977, eight years after “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” the sequel finds Cliff working as a fixer for Hollywood’s rich, powerful, and morally flexible. According to Netflix’s official synopsis, he becomes entangled with talent agent Karen Crosby (Elizabeth Debicki), television star Charlie Peters (Scott Caan), and Peters’ wife Toni (Carla Gugino). Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays football star-turned-actor Roderick “Hot Rod” Harrison, while the ensemble also includes Timothy Olyphant, Peter Weller, Corey Fogelmanis, and Karren Karagulian. Murder, blackmail, extortion, and assorted Hollywood unpleasantness are apparently on the menu, which should keep Pitt’s famously relaxed troublemaker plenty occupied.
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Interestingly, Tarantino’s original film leaned heavily on its lovingly curated collection of period needle drops rather than a conventional original score. Reznor and Ross would mark a significant shift in approach, potentially giving Cliff’s latest misadventures a darker, more psychologically uneasy edge. Then again, these are the same musicians who brought an unexpectedly sensual electronic pulse to “Challengers,” so anyone expecting nothing but ominous drones may be underestimating their range. There’s something appealing about the prospect of the pair cutting loose in a grubby 1977 Los Angeles, where the music could be as dangerous, ridiculous, or unexpectedly funky as the people.
“The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” begins an exclusive two-week global IMAX theatrical engagement on November 25, 2026, before arriving on Netflix on December 23. See the poster below.
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