Comments on: Will Smith Circling Lead Role In Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Seems to like it\’s another situation that\’ll unfold quite similar to Basterds;

he\’s gotta secure that \”top shelf\” star for commercial reasons and to get people interested and then he can fill it with whoever he likes.

IF Smith does sign on i\’d expect the rest of the casting to go much like Basterds. And we know how that went…will he be able to keep his friends out this one? I doubt it, but hopefully small roles only.

Also, I noticed that Variety did say Schultz role was written with DiCaprio in mind however I think they have their wires crossed and are mixed up with Basterds…they also said Brad Pitt was sought after for a supporting role but he wasn\’t interested as of now, hmm…

By: Ha, So Wrong

Ha, So Wrong — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Yeah, Variety has that totally wrong. Role was in no way shape or form written for Leo (nor Waltz). Maybe they mean Pitt as the role was vaguely written with him in mind.

DiCaprio sought the Landa role and Tarantino politely laughed him out of the room. Considering he can’t fluently speak French or German, I’m not sure what DiCaprio was thinking.

By: Ha, So Wrong

Ha, So Wrong — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Yeah, Variety has that totally wrong. Role was in no way shape or form written for Leo (nor Waltz). Maybe they mean Pitt as the role was vaguely written with him in mind.

DiCaprio sought the Landa role and Tarantino politely laughed him out of the room. Considering he can\’t fluently speak French or German, I\’m not sure what DiCaprio was thinking.

By: will

will — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

smith hasnt worked in a while so it makes sense that way, but i was hoping for more of a wildcard out of the blue lead slave for qt. I really wanted omar

By: BuntyHoven

BuntyHoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Would we really have wanted Michael K. Williams, though? I feel like we\’ve seen him play the badass, ruthless guy enough in The Wire. Whereas Will Smith taking on a role this like in a bloody revenge tale will be fascinating. He\’s a good actor when he puts his mind to it, and it fits with Tarantino\’s fondness for casting familiar faces in unfamiliar roles.

By: KT

KT — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

I called it.

By: stan

stan — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Isaach de Bankolé for Django

By: thislalife

thislalife — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

You guys are missing some key details here:

Smith will take a pay cut to work with QT

QT originally wanted Leo for the Waltz role, but he passed (he also passed on inglorious basterds)

By: The Playlist

The Playlist — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Yeah, I\’ve been revising as I go as this is a huge story. Yes, Smith may indeed take a paycut and or take a major backend deal in lieu of a huge upfront fee.

That story about Leonardo DiCaprio is categorically untrue though. The actor sought the role, not the other way around and well, he didn\’t get it now did he?

By: BuntyHoven

BuntyHoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

thislalife: How did he originally want DiCaprio for the Waltz role when it\’s univerally acknowledged that the role has been written specifically for Waltz? The Basterds thing is true, but I think QT actually decided against Leo eventually because he wanted a native German speaker. But he only finished writing Django a few weeks ago, and the script was written with Waltz in mind.

By: hank

hank — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Eddie Murphy.

By: BuntyHoven

BuntyHoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

I think you\’re being too harsh on Smith in your revised story. How is not \”creative casting\”? Putting the world\’s biggest family-friendly star in a violent, racially-charged revenge picture? It\’d be like casting Tom Hanks as Hitler. It\’s more creative than Williams, who could have done this role in his sleep.

By: Rashad

Rashad — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Hans Landa wasn\’t written specifically for Waltz. He wrote it and wanted a German from the get go. It wasn\’t until the last minute did he find Waltz which was a saving grace. Tarantino has talked about this

By: BuntyHoven

BuntyHoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Rashad: Right, Hans Landa wasn\’t written for Waltz, but Dr. Schultz certainly was. thislalife was saying the role was written for Leo.

By: zxcvb

zxcvb — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Didn\’t Will Smith make a big deal about not cursing during his music career? I don\’t know he\’d be up for the N-word-o-rama that is a QT film.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

there has been a twitter campaign for Michael K Williams in this role….it seems like a lot of people are pulling for him…haven\’t read the script so i can\’t say….but he is a brilliant actor

By: The Playlist

The Playlist — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

@Bunty. That\’s a good point, in that sense, it\’s subversive, but I dunno, he\’s just milquetoast. Of course that\’s just my opinion.

Michael\’s got it right as we also said in the article Top shelf actor like Smith? Just like Brad Pitt, it\’s pretty much gives QT carte blanche to do whatever he wants with the rest of casting and probably keep the length etc. (though if you\’ve read a few script reviews out there already, including ours, the one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the script could use a trim)

By: Ha, So Wrong

Ha, So Wrong — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Yeah, Variety has that totally wrong. Role was in no way shape or form written for Leo (nor Waltz). Maybe they mean Pitt as the role was vaguely written with him in mind.

DiCaprio sought the Landa role and Tarantino politely laughed him out of the room. Considering he can\’t fluently speak French or German, I\’m not sure what DiCaprio was thinking.

By: BuntyHoven

BuntyHoven — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

JUST THINK OF THE THEME TUNE. That\’s reason enough to cast Smith.

Seriously though, this is genuinely exciting news. I am pleased. You\’ll all see! QT knows.

By: hank

hank — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

I though I had always read that QT DID want Leo for the Landa role? As I remember, he was looking for big stars to secure the financing. I could be wrong, though.

Nobody for Eddie Murphy as Django?

By: Mr Anonymous

Mr Anonymous — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

If Will Smith is the kind of actor that can get this film made and QT actually likes him as an actor then cast him! I don\’t see a problem with this.

The only problem i see is Will Smith\’s ego getting in the way and further down the line there being \’creative differences\’ between the two. If that happens, fuck Smith! Kick his ass outta there and get Idris Elba!

Personally, who i would like for the role is Nelsan Ellis from True Blood.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

In Tarantino I trust.

If he thinks Will Smith will dominate the role of Django then I say go for it! 20 years in the business & the only casting of his that bugs me is Eli Roth in Basterds.

I just hope he can bring Michael Fassbender back for a role. Or casts Josh Brolin like you guys want!

By: Kevin Jagernauth

Kevin Jagernauth — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Yeah, this casting makes sense. It will let QT make the film he wants without compromise. And I\’m not opposed to Will Smith. If he can pull a Tom Cruise/Magnolia performance out of this and do something totally against type, it could work. But he\’ll have to put his ego completely aside and let QT lead the way and it will be interesting to see if he wants to do that after spending years calling his own shots.

By: SoulHonky

SoulHonky — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

The only problem with saying that Tarantino should get Smith if he wants to retain control over his picture is that Will pretty much always demands input on the scripts he works on. Maybe the disappointing returns for Seven Pounds and the disaster that has been Men in Black\’s production so far has changed him a bit or he\’s a huge fan of QT and will put aside his vanity but I could see there being some ego clashing.

By: SoulHonky

SoulHonky — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:36:40 +0000

Oops. Just noticed your post on the ego issue a couple comments below. I agree with what you wrote there. Could be good if Will wanted to stretch and put his faith in QT but part of me wonders if he\’d be willing to do that AND take a paycut.