Are you ready for another Quentin Tarantino film to blow your mind and possibly make you question your sanity? We are. Definitely.
The second trailer for Django Unchained was released today, and now we’re wishing that time travel really was a thing so December would be here already.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
The film is set in the pre-Civil War era and tells the story of Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave living in the Deep South who is sold to Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Schultz is actually a bounty hunter, and offers to help free Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from a ruthless plantation owner (Leonardo Dicaprio) as long as Django agrees to help him kill off a gang of killers known as the Brittle Brothers.
For me, seeing Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Jonah Hill, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio side-by-side immediately made me think, “WTH?” But from what we can see in the trailer, it appears that they all have great chemistry, especially between Foxx, DiCaprio, and Waltz. Hill of course has one of his snippets of funny inserted into a rather bleak and upcoming KKK-type raid, and Jackson always seems to be a BAMF no matter what role he plays. DiCaprio’s performance will probably disgust me because he’s such a good actor (and he’s the bad guy, so there’s that).
The trailer reveals an odd-yet-expected-because-it’s-Tarantino mixture of spaghetti western mixed with slightly modern dialogue and lots of gun shooting and explosions. The costumes and sets appear to be period, though, so as not to make it too funky. And Django wants everyone to know his name is spelled D-J-A-N-G-O, where “the ‘D’ is silent.”
The international trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained has been released. It’s mostly the same as the US trailer, with a few extra shots of difference, most notably, the inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson as a billed star in the film.
While the movie does look like it’s definitely going to be well crafted, I still can’t help but hold reservations on it. The James Brown soundtrack doesn’t work for me, but I understand it’s attempting a melding of the Spaghetti Western/Blaxploitation genres. What does work for me, is seeing Quentin Tarantino actually having a TRUE homage, with the final shot of the trailer, showing Jamie Foxx sitting with Franco Nero, who some may recognize as the original star of Sergio Corbucci’s Django. Even though that shot is included in the US trailer, I imagine it’ll play quite well with international crowds, where Sergio Corbucci’s name is more well-known. It would seem QT is continuing the long tradition of having a western revolving around a character named Django, even if he isn’t THE Django, from the original film. There are over 30 unofficial sequels to the original Django, as Italy has a long history of its filmmakers “borrowing” character and movie names to help a knockoff films chances at the box office. Tarantino seems to be falling right in line with this idea, only he is celebrating that character and tradition, rather than looking to make a quick buck off a name brand.
That’s Franco Nero on the right, the OG Django. He doesn’t look happy.
I always hold fast to the rule that you should never truly judge how good or bad a movie is until you see it, (see: Battleship), so I’m trying to stay positive with my feelings about Django Unchained. Maybe I’m just being overly negative, but Death Proof was really bad, and Inglorious Basterds was such a self-aggrandizing mess, it’s taken away the immediate optimism I used to have for Quentin Tarantino’s films. Regardless, like all of his films, I’ll end up seeing them no matter what, because for better or worse, nobody really makes movies like Tarantino. He has an undeniably unique voice, and is accomplished at doing what he sets out to do. [Ed. Note – Death Proof andInglorious Basterds are both awesome.]
Back in May I told you about the next Tarantino movie – Django Unchained. At that time it was believed that Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) was already locked in, and that it was rumored that star of the original movie Django – Franco Nero, would also be asked to take part. In addition, everyone just assumed that Sam Jackson would appear in his 6th Tarantino scripted movie.
Well as the production has rounded out, we’ve gotten some more names, the biggest of which was probably Leonardo DiCaprio. For the last month or so rumors have circled around DiCaprio being pegged to play the film’s villain – Calvin Candie…
“a charming but ruthless proprietor of Candyland, a despicable club and plantation in Mississippi where female slaves are exploited as sex objects and males are pitted against each other in “mandingo” style death matches. Candie is a slave’s worst nightmare and the freed slave Django must cross him in order to reclaim his wife.”
– Deadline
And while Leo’s name is attached to this all over the place, as far as I can figure, it isn’t actually official yet. If it does happen though, I think DiCaprio would be great. I’d love to see him in a villain role, and he has a real desire to work with the best directors in the industry with all the Scorsese movies in recent years, and Christopher Nolan’s Inception last summer. This guy is, in my opinion, one of the top actors in Hollywood today. As DeNiro, Pacino, Hackman, and Hoffman all ease into ‘Grandpa Roles’, the next generation of great actors is really starting to emerge, and Leo is at the forefront. However, like I said, he’s not confirmed yet to my knowledge.
Another big name QT was trying to wrangle in for the project was Mr. Blockbuster himself – Will Smith. This was the focus of our article in May, and now we’ve got an answer from the Fresh Prince: No.
So, once Will Smith (against the advice of everyone) turned down the lead in Quentin Tarantino’s newest movie, the search for ‘Django’ began anew. With Smith out, QT reportedly talked to Idris Elba, Terrence Howard, and Chris Tucker all before ultimately offering the role to Smith’s Ali co-star; Jamie Foxx, who has accepted.
Foxx is coming off of an extremely entertaining role in Horrible Bosses (which was awesome), where he played a character named ‘Motherf#*ker Jones’ and will now play a freed slave out for revenge. This should prove to be Foxx’s most talked about role of since Ray.
In addition to Jamie Foxx, it’s recently been announced that Kevin Costner will also join the cast. That means that Costner should be slated for a huge year in 2012 between this and his role as Pa Kent in Man of Steel. According to Deadline, Costner will play ‘Ace Woody’, the wicked plantation underboss who trains slaves to fight to the death.
Jamie Foxx’s Ray co-star Kerry Washington has also been tapped to appear as Django’s wife, and the motivation for his entire drive in the movie.
In addition, if you can believe the “always dependable” IMDb, Treat Williams(who we mentioned back in May) and Keith Carradine are both in the running to be included as well. Carradine is of course the younger brother of David Carradine, who was best known to QT fans as ‘Bill’. Now, while I’m pretty impartial towards Williams (even though I loved ‘Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead’), I really liked Carradine in his run on Dexter and I think he’d be a really under-rated addition to what’s shaping up to be one of the best casts of 2012…
I think it can go without saying, I’m a Quentin Tarantino fan. Not only am I a fan of his films overall, but of the writing style, the way they’re shot, and way they pay homage to what came before them. Tarantino simply put, is my favorite film-maker. Every few years we are treated to something new from him. Now, it seems that the follow-up to his mega-hit Inglourious Basterds is around the corner, and it will be called Django Unchained.
Inspired by the 1966 spaghetti western Django. The film was considered one of the most violent in history up until that point so it seems an obvious choice for Tarantino. The original movie dealt with a gunslinger who enters a town at war. The KKK is feuding with a Mexican gang, and Django gets caught in the middle.
Taratino’s movie will take the western theme, but it will be earlier, post-civil war era. It will tell the story of a former slave named Django who is trained by a German Bounty Hunter, and tries to free his wife from an evil plantation owner.
In no real surprise, it seems that Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterd‘s Hans Landa) will play the German Bounty Hunter, though not yet official. In another real shocker, Tarantino staple Samuel L. Jackson appears set for some screen-time as well. Also rumored is that the star of the original film, Franco Nero (aka Gen. Ramon Esperanza in Die Hard 2), will be involved in some capacity, but it’s not yet known as whom. We reported a while back that Treat Williams has apparently turned down roles in both The Dark Knight Rises and this movie to do some TV cop show. Good call Treat.
Now, as far as the casting of Django himself – over the weekend there were rumors galore that Will Smith seems to be the front-runner and Tarantino’s choice for the title character. Smith however is a product. And he markets himself very carefully, so it’s unclear if he’ll accept a role this…gritty.
Sources prepped for those meetings say Tarantino would like Smith to star in the film, the script for which has been making the rounds in recent days to wide acclaim. No official offer has been made to Smith, and any deal would of course be subject to working out financials, which might be difficult given Smith’s status as one of Hollywood’s few sure-thing stars.
Indeed, though Smith has been out of multiplexes since 2008’s Seven Pounds, he is still considered among the top two or three box-office draws worldwide.
Smith is being teed up for the title role of Django, a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey that will see him team with a German bounty hunter to take down an evil plantation owner.
Tarantino wrote the bounty hunter part with Waltz in mind, according to insiders. The German ends up training Django and helping him seek his wife.
Jackson would play the house slave to the bad guy, Monsieur Calvin Candie. The slave is an expert manipulator and will face off with Django.
Smith and his reps have received the screenplay, which could be a hot potato due to the themes of racism and the liberal use of the N-word. It’s unclear whether Smith has read the script yet. The actor manages his image very carefully, but the part is heroic and could be iconic. And let’s not forget that Denzel Washington won his two Oscars playing characters who used the N-word.
The movie is slated for a 2012 release, and while I think he would be good in it, weather or not The Fresh Prince Will Smith joins the cast won’t affect my decision to see it. I can already tell you I will be in the theater opening night next year…
Grizzly Bomb 