'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Is Getting An Audiobook Performed By Jennifer Jason Leigh
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will be retold in audio form by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Quentin Tarantino's novelization of his 10-time Oscar nominated film will get the audiobook treatment from the actress. The audiobook accompanies the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel written by Tarantino that will be published this summer.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Twitter account announced that an audiobook of Tarantino's 2019 film will be performed by Oscar nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh, and will go on sale June 29. Pre-orders are available on Audible here.
We're excited to announce that the audiobook of Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD will be performed by Oscar-nominated actress, Jennifer Jason Leigh! On sale June 29 and available for pre-order now on @Audible_com: https://t.co/Ns2w8kj0xN pic.twitter.com/i4W1x88uOr
— Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (@OnceInHollywood) May 13, 2021
The audiobook follows the November announcement of a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelization penned by Tarantino, as part of a two-book deal with the HarperCollins imprint Harper, which also included non-fiction book titled Cinema Speculation that features essays, reviews, personal writing on films of the '70s.
The novelization puts on print Tarantino's nostalgic ode to '60s cinema, which saw Hollywood on the cusp of a seismic cultural shift. The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio as washed-up actor Rick Dalton, and Brad Pitt, in an Oscar-winning performance, as his stunt double Cliff Booth, as they mostly just hung out in '60s Hollywood – with the shadow of the Manson Family looming over it. But the novel will expand on Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth's sweet dynamic — which, let's be honest, was the real star of the show — with the book reportedly following the characters "both forward and backward in time." The novelization will also feature deleted and extended scenes, like the two actors' time making spaghetti Westerns in Italy, as well as characters who were axed from the theatrical cut (like Burt Reynolds).
It is interesting that Leigh has been chosen to perform the audiobook since Once Upon a Time is such a guys' movie, but the actress has worked with Tarantino before, starring in his 2015 revenge Western The Hateful Eight. She's got a handle on Tarantino's particular style and cadence, and will probably do fine imitating the lazy drawl of Pitt's Cliff Booth and the weary despair of DiCaprio's Rick Dalton.
Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel is set to hit shelves alongside the audiobook on June 29, 2021, and will first be rolled out as a Harper Perennial mass market paperback, alongside e-book and digital audio editions. A deluxe hardcover edition will follow in the fall.