Django Unchained: Life, liberty and the pursuit of vengeance. Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, “Django Unchained,” about a slave-turned-bounty hunter, doesn’t shy away from violence and language, including 110 uses of the N-word –- something the cast had to come to grips with while filming.
“These characters use the N-word because that’s what people said back then, and again if you don’t understand how ugly the time is, you don’t understand how bad [Django] is to get through this time,” Kerry Washington told Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle, referencing Jamie Foxx’s Django character.
“There were days when hearing that N-word over and over again would start to get a little uncomfortable and Jaime and I had these imaginary shields… we’d roll up our n-word shield,” she explained.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays plantation owner Calvin Candie, uses the word most often, but had trouble going there, according to his co-stars.
What the film is about
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz. Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive. Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways.
Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie, the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation.
Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen, Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival.
Django Unchained
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Dana Gourrier, Nichole Galicia, Laura Cayouette
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
Production Design by: J. Michael Riva
Cinematography byB Robert Richardson
Film Editing by: Fred Raskin
Costume Design by: Sharen Davis
Set Decoration by: Leslie A. Pope
MPAA Rating: R for violence, adult themes, language.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: December 25th, 2012
Related Link: View the Full Production Notes for Django Unchained
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