Early rumors have proven true as Variety is reporting Leonardo DiCaprio is in negotiations to play the lead villain, Monsieur Calvin Candie, in Quentin Tarantino’s spaghetti western Django Unchained, which is expected to begin filming this fall.
Django Unchained centers on Django, a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey which will see him team up with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German bounty hunter, to take down Candie, an evil plantation owner.
Variety goes on to describe Candie saying he operates a Mississippi plantation called Candyland where he pits male slaves against each other in brutal fights to the death when he isn’t busy sexually exploiting female slaves.
Tarantino first sought DiCaprio to play the role of Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. It was when DiCaprio passed that the role ended up in the hands of Christoph Waltz and won Waltz an Oscar. Waltz will again return to star for Tarantino, as you can see in the plot description above.
As for the lead role in the film, Will Smith remains Tarantino’s first choice, but should he decide to pass on the role there are others said to be in the mix. One of those “others” is Idris Elba, which you’ll remember I speculated as to the potential he was testing for the role at the end of May after he posted on Twitter, “Having one of the biggest meetings of my professional life today…meeting a very controversial director for a very controversial part.”
However, Elba isn’t the only one in contention as Variety reports Tarantino is also eying Chris Tucker who played Beaumont Livingston for Tarantino in Jackie Brown in 1997. Tucker hasn’t been in a film since 2007’s Rush Hour 3.
Additionally, Samuel L. Jackson is expected to play Stephen, the house slave to Calvin Candie.
Django Unchained will be distributed by the Weinstein Co. and is expected to hit theaters in 2012. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tarantino attempts to have the film ready for next year’s Cannes Film Festival, which is where he debuted Inglourious Basterds in 2009, which is where Oscar buzz for Waltz began.
