Quentin Tarantino is to release a 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' novel.

The director has signed a two-book deal with publisher HarperCollins, with the adaptation of his 2019 movie being the first to arrive next year.

The novel will focus on the protagonists of the motion picture – TV actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio) and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) – both forward and backward in time but it has been touted as a "shocking departure" from the film.

The second tome is entitled 'Cinema Speculation' and is described by the publisher as a "deep dive into the movies of the 1970s, a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalising 'what if's', from one of cinema's most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan."

Announcing the project, Tarantino said: "In the 70s movie novelisations were the first adult books I grew up reading.

"And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre. So as a movie-novelisation aficionado, I'm proud to announce 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' my contribution to this often marginalised, yet beloved sub-genre in literature.

"I'm also thrilled to further explore my characters and their world in a literary endeavour that can (hopefully) sit alongside its cinematic counterpart."

HarperCollins Vice President Noah Eaker added: "Quentin Tarantino's literary talents have been in plain sight since his first scripts, but to see how skillfully he endows his characters with life on the page and how he constantly takes a reader by surprise, even one who knows the movie by heart, is to see a master storyteller trying on a new form and making it his own."