Tarantino Names Fincher His Favorite Director, With One Exception

Quentin Tarantino has never been shy about sharing strong opinions on cinema, and he rarely places modern filmmakers on his own level. David Fincher, however, has long been the notable exception in the ‘Pulp Fiction’ director’s eyes.

Tarantino’s admiration for Fincher’s work runs deep. He has called ‘Zodiac’ and ‘The Social Network’ masterpieces, and he previously told French outlet Premiere Magazine that ‘The Social Network’ was his top film of the 2010s.

Now, Tarantino has taken that praise even further. While appearing on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ this past Friday, he named Fincher as his favorite director, before playfully adding one exception to the list: himself.

The remark perfectly captured Tarantino’s famously confident personality. It also lines up with comments he made last year on ‘The Church of Tarantino’ podcast, where he described himself and Fincher as the 2 best directors working today.

Quentin Tarantino says David Fincher is his favorite director. “Aside from myself.” (Via: https://t.co/BnhBGOHy7s) https://t.co/8J10OmhFDm

— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) October 19, 2026

Tarantino’s appearance was part of the promotional push for ‘The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth’, the follow-up to ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ that he wrote and Fincher directed. The film is set in 1977, 8 years after Cliff Booth crossed paths with the Manson family in Tarantino’s alternate history of 1969.

Brad Pitt returns to the role that earned him an Academy Award. This time, Cliff makes a living as a waiter or projectionist while quietly solving problems for Hollywood’s big names, and sometimes those who aren’t so big. Interestingly, Fincher wasn’t Tarantino’s original plan. Tarantino has explained that he was actually going to shelve the script until Pitt suggested Fincher take it on.

Pitt and Fincher have a long history together, having previously collaborated on ‘Seven’, ‘Fight Club’ and ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. Tarantino has also said that directing a sequel as his final film simply didn’t excite him, even though he loved the script.

He has framed Fincher’s interest as a sign of how seriously his writing was being treated. For Tarantino, having a director he considers among the very best adapt his work was a major endorsement.

The project is shaping up to be one of Netflix’s biggest swings. With a reported budget of around $200 million, it is the most expensive film either Tarantino has written or Fincher has directed.

The film will open exclusively in IMAX theaters globally for a 2-week run beginning November 25, before arriving on Netflix on December 23. The cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller.

Tarantino fans have even more to look forward to. A novelization he wrote, titled ‘The Adventures of Cliff Booth’, is set to be published by HarperCollins on December 8. The release also carries some bittersweet significance. Fincher’s exclusive deal with Netflix is expected to wrap with this film, closing a chapter that began when he joined the streamer in 2013.

That makes the project a fitting capstone, pairing one of Hollywood’s most meticulous directors with one of its most distinctive writers. If Tarantino’s enthusiasm is any indication, he believes his story is in exactly the right hands.

Tarantino’s latest compliment may have been delivered with a wink, but it reflects genuine respect between 2 of modern cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers. With ‘The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth’ just weeks away, audiences will soon see what happens when their sensibilities collide.

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