According to one source, Pitt was taken by certain aspects of script, which never seemed to stop evolving, as well as his character’s part in it. He asked the filmmaker whether he would consider letting someone else direct the untitled project. Tarantino replied, and we paraphrase here, “Depends on who.” An indeterminate time later, Pitt returned with Fincher in tow. The two have a long-standing and fire-tested bond, having made Se7en, Fight Club, The Mysterious Case of Benjamin Button and World War Z together. Tarantino gave his blessing, the project was repackaged and scooped by Netflix, where Fincher has his first-look movie deal.
It is not entirely clear how Tarantino is able to make a follow-up to Once Upon a Timeanywhere but Sony, which financed and released the 2019 movie. The filmmaker has a unique deal in which he has an ownership stake in the movie, which increases every year for 20 years, when the movie reverts to him. There is the possibility that Tarantino retained sequel or spinoff rights. And there is also the very unclear definition of what exactly constitutes a Once Upon a Timesequel.
