Django Unchained (2012)
- To accurately portray their role in Django Unchained, Jamie Foxx spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Quentin Tarantino.
- Despite initial studio skepticism, Django Unchained went on to gross over $449,800,000 worldwide.
Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Set in the Antebellum South two years before the Civil War, the film follows Django, a freed slave played by Jamie Foxx, who partners with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz, to rescue his wife Broomhilda from the cruel plantation owner Calvin Candie, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Tarantino described the film as a "Southern," his take on the Western genre transplanted to the pre-Civil War American South. The ensemble cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson in a particularly memorable role as Stephen, Candie's fiercely loyal head house slave.
Django Unchained sparked significant cultural debate upon release for its unflinching depiction of slavery and its liberal use of racial language, though many critics praised Tarantino for confronting this period of American history through the lens of genre entertainment. Christoph Waltz won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Schultz, having previously won for Inglourious Basterds. The film earned $425 million worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as the genteel yet sadistic Candie was widely considered one of the finest of his career, and a famous scene where he accidentally cut his hand on a glass and continued acting became Hollywood legend.
