Former dentist, Dr. King Schultz, buys the freedom of a slave, Django, and trains him with the intent to make him his deputy bounty hunter. Instead, he is led to the site of Django's wife who is under the hands of Calvin Candie, a ruthless plantation owner.
Trivia:Will Smith, Idris Elba, Chris Tucker, Terrence Howard, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Tyrese Gibson were all considered for the role of Django. Quentin Tarantino actually wrote the role with Smith in mind, and Smith's agents and manager wanted him to accept it, but Smith ultimately decided to pass. Tarantino then offered the part to Jamie Foxx, who accepted.
Kevin Costner was cast as Ace Woody, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
Quentin Tarantino's first feature film not edited by Sally Menke, who died in 2010.
Kurt Russell replaced Kevin Costner, but then had to pull out himself. Russell and Costner appeared together in 3000 Miles to Graceland, and have both played lawman Wyatt Earp, in Tombstone and Wyatt Earp, respectively.
Although the film is technically a part of the western genre, Quentin Tarantino preferred to refer to the film as a "southern" due to the films setting in America's deep south.
Zoe Bell was considered for the role of Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly.
Sid Haig was considered for the role of 'Mr. Stonesipher', so much so that casting director 'Victoria Thomas' informed Haig's agent "It's a lock". Quentin Tarantino himself scheduled, and later canceled at the last minute, two auditions for Haig. Two months later, the role quietly went to David Steen instead. Tarantino being known for his extremely dry humor, this "prank" is presumably rooted in Haig turning down the role of Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction 17 years previously.
Quentin Tarantino wrote a role for Michael Kenneth Williams, but Williams had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with Boardwalk Empire.
While filming on location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Quentin Tarantino rented out a local movie theater to show samurai and Western movies from his own personal collection.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast in a minor role as Jano, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with his directorial debut, Don Jon's Addiction.
Jamie Foxx used his own horse, Cheetah, in the movie.
This is the second time Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington have portrayed a married couple. The two previously starred as Ray Charles and Della Bea Robinson in Ray.
Sacha Baron Cohen was cast as Scotty and Kurt Russell was cast as Ace Woody but both dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
The final draft of the script is dated April 26th, 2011.
The title and setting of the film was inspired by the 1960s spaghetti western Django, with the original Django actor Franco Nero having a small role in the film.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who portrays villain Calvin Candie in this film, was originally the first actor choice for the role of antagonist Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's previous film Inglourious Basterds. However, Tarantino decided that a fluent German-speaking actor should portray the character, and the part went to Christoph Waltz, who portrays Dr. King Schultz in this film, marking Waltz's second film collaboration with Tarantino. DiCaprio can however speak some German.
This film marks Samuel L. Jackson's sixth film collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino. Jackson had previous roles in True Romance Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, and Inglourious Basterds, all written by Tarantino.
Director Quentin Tarantino revealed at Comic-Con that Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington's characters are meant to be the great great great grandparents of the character John Shaft from the Shaft movies. An overt reference to this connection can be found in Kerry Washington's character's full name: Broomhilda Von Shaft.
The film was shot in 130 days. This was Quentin Tarantino's longest shooting schedule for a single film.
Lady Gaga was considered for the role of Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly.
Christoph Waltz dislocated his pelvic bone while training for his part. He alluded to the injury backstage after winning the Golden Globe, stating, "Riding a horse wasn't much of a challenge. Falling off was." Waltz's injury necessitated that King Schultz's early scenes on horseback be accommodated by a horse drawn wagon instead.
Russ Tamblyn, whose character in this movie is named "Son of a Gunfighter", starred in the 1965 movie Johnny Gunfighter. Also in Django, Tamblyn's real-life daughter, actress Amber Tamblyn, plays the character named "Daughter of a Son of a Gunfighter".
This is the first stand-alone film (not counting Grindhouse or Death Proof) directed by Quentin Tarantino which was not produced by Lawrence Bender.
Excluding films in which the cast is billed alphabetically (Celebrity and Don's Plum) this is the first time in 16 years that Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get the top billing.
Dr. Schultz says he wants to re-name Eskimo Joe, the Mandingo fighter he tries to purchase, as "Black Hercules." This was the real life nickname of Ken Norton, actor/boxer who starred in Mandingo.
Leonardo DiCaprio, whose role in the film marked the first time him playing a villain since The Man in the Iron Mask, was uncomfortable with how horrible and explicitly racist his character was. However, Quentin Tarantino convinced him to be as menacing as possible saying that if he didn't take it all the way, people would hold it against him forever.
WILHELM SCREAM: When horseback men retreat from the exploding wagon in their night raid, and one falls off a horse.
Calvin explains that via the study of Phrenology, he is able to find the three dimples on Bens skull, which represent submissiveness. Phrenology was an ill-fated phase of real Psychology when it was actually believed bumps on different skull locations represented different traits like creativity, athletic ability and so forth.
Django's blue costume is based on the famous painting "The Blue Boy". This painting inspired F.W. Murnau's film "The Boy in Blue". F.W. Murnau is best known for creating the "Unchained" camera technique.
Franco Nero, making his cameo in the film, is seen wearing white gloves. This may be a reference to the original Django film where at the end Nero's character has his hands smashed by the Mexicans for being a thief. However; this should not be seen as him being the same character in both movies, as Django takes place in an unspecified time after Django Unchained and U.S. Civil War.
King's and Django's horses are named Fritz and Tony. These are the names of the horses of (respectively) silent western stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix.
The men in hoods organized by Big Daddy represent a group known as "The Regulators" - spiritual forebears of the later post-civil war KKK formed in 1865.
After the actors left the project, the minor roles that were going to be played by Michael Kenneth Williams, Sacha Baron Cohen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were removed from the film.
Many of the actors are playing characters written with them in mind, including, among the more sizable roles, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson.
After an accident in training where Christoph Waltz was thrown off his horse and broke his pelvis, Jamie Foxx gave him a gift to make him feel better about riding a horse: a saddle with a seat belt.
The last name of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is a reference to Paula Schultz, the name on the gravestone that the Bride (Uma Thurman) is buried alive under in Kill Bill: Vol. 2.
Features seven actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Jamie Foxx (for Collateral, Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds (2009)_ and 'Django' ), Leonardo DiCaprio (_What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) _ ), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction ), Jonah Hill (Moneyball, Russ Tamblyn (Peyton Place ) and Bruce Dern (Coming Home ). Christoph Waltz is the only one to have won, although Jamie Foxx captured the Best Actor Oscar for Ray (2004/I)_.
The word "nigger" or some abbreviation of it is said over 110 times over the course of the movie.
The name "Django" is a Romani (Gypsy) name meaning "I awake." It was very popular among musicians and Jazz enthusiasts for having been the adopted name of Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt (1910-1953), a Romani-Belgian Jazz guitarist.
Early in the film, Christoph Waltz kills a town sheriff, and is about to be arrested by the Marshall, until he pulls out the arrest warrant for the man he has just killed. Later in the film, he points out Monsieur Candie's fondness for 'Alexandre Dumas pere', whose novel The Three Musketeers features a similar scene near the end: d'Artagnan kills Milady DeWinter, and is arrested for it by Cardinal Richelieu, only to pull out a letter that Richelieu had given her, saying that "By my hand and for the good of the State, the bearer of this letter has done what has been done." d'Artagnan uses it as "proof" that he was authorized to kill her.
In an interview promoting the film, Quentin Tarantino stated that originally the mandingo fight scene and the scene with the dogs were longer and more violent. Quentin said he felt like he was going to "traumatize" the audience of the film so he cut both scenes down.
After working on this film, composer Ennio Morricone said he would probably never again collaborate with Quentin Tarantino since he didn't like the way the writer/director 'places music in his films without coherence' and 'never giving enough time'. Morricone and Tarantino had also worked together on three previous movies.
Ultimately, Will Smith decided to pass on playing Django in the film due to him seeing the character as not being the lead. He told Entertainment Weekly, "Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead! I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!' ... I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me."
Firearms used in the film: James Remar (who plays two characters) wields the same weapon as both, a muzzle-loading, double-barreled, sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun; Lil' Raj Brittle carries a .44 caliber Colt Dragoon, with which Django shoots him six times; Django wields a .36 caliber 1851 Colt Navy revolver; Dr. Schultz wields a .44 caliber 1858 New Army revolver; in the final shootout, Django wields both revolvers; Schultz also wields a Cobra Big Bore .38 caliber Derringer on a sleeve slide, and a .45-70 Sharps 1874 Cavalry Carbine; various characters wield a .44 Rimfire 1860 Henry Rifle; various villains wield 1856 .577 muzzle-loading Enfield Pattern Cavalry Carbines; Django briefly carries a .44 caliber Remington 1858 Cattleman's Carbine.
