‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ Hardback Deluxe Novel a Treasure Trove for Film’s Fans

The hardback deluxe novelization edition of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood dropped this week — and for those obsessed with the Oscar-winning 2019 picture, it packs a lot of goodies.

Over the summer, Tarantino’s paperback novelization of his film was released by HarperCollins and was an instant hit, debuting at No. 1 on The New York Times fiction best-seller list. The publisher shipped 200,000 copies of the mass market edition, which continues to sell. For the hardback, HarperCollins is releasing 85,000 copies, a healthy amount given the paperback was only released in late June.

The original release treated fans of the Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt tale of 1969 Hollywood to several scenes that were not in the movie, which better fleshed out the three main characters, including Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate.

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However, the hardback deluxe edition, which hit bookstores Nov. 9, is a whole other animal. In addition to the entire story, there are several pictures from the production that show novel scenes shot for the film, but that were left on the cutting room floor, including a fantastic moment when Cliff Booth (Pitt) visits a record store. Tarantino said in previous interviews that he had to make substantial cuts to keep a proper film pace.

In addition to the photos, more featured treasures include an exclusive script for an episode of Bounty Law, the fictitious TV Western starring DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, along with several posters and pictures of Dalton from projects discussed in the book, but absent from the film, making his career more tangible.

Also included is the MAD magazine story written specifically for the film about Dalton’s Bounty Law. In the film, Rick has a copy of his MAD cover framed in his house. There is also a picture of the Bounty Law lunch box given to the cast as a wrap gift (deep fan cut). Of course, in the film, Manson Family member Tex (Austin Butler) says his favorite lunch box from childhood was his Bounty Law pail.

On Tuesday, Tarantino dropped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to talk about the novel’s deluxe edition. There, he mentioned that, at first, he was going to novelize his first film, Reservoir Dogs — even writing two chapters — before he switched gears and knocked out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino, being an eccentric and old soul, told Colbert he wanted the paperback released first (unconventional by today’s standards) because that’s how novelizations were released when he was a kid.

Watch the Colbert interview below.