Like many Quentin Tarantino motion pictures, the dialogue in Django Unchained makes liberal use of the N-word — to the purpose the place it made star Leonardo DiCaprio need to give up a studying of the script. In accordance with co-star Jamie Foxx, nonetheless, Samuel L. Jackson was in a position to persuade him to stay it out.
“The subject material. The N-word, particularly. Leo had a tough time saying the N-word,” Foxx remembered in a current interview with Vainness Truthful. “We’re doing a learn, and Leo says, ‘Hey, guys. Reduce! I simply can’t do that. This isn’t me.’ Samuel L. Jackson goes, ‘Say that shit, motherfucker! It’s simply one other Tuesday. Fuck them.’”
Foxx additionally did his half by saying: “I advised Leo that in slavery days we’d by no means speak to one another. I’m not your good friend. I’m not Jamie Foxx. I’m Django.”
“I advised him, you gained’t actually have the ability to play that character till you perceive what slavery is about,” he continued. “It was powerful. it was horrific. So the following day I see Leo and I say what’s as much as him. He don’t communicate to me. He’s prepared. All people began digging in.”
In 2022, Jackson corroborated this story in an interview with The Occasions, including that he thinks Tarantino will get a nasty rap for utilizing the N-word in his motion pictures. “Each time somebody needs an instance of overuse of the N-word, they go to Quentin — it’s unfair,” he mentioned. “He’s simply telling the story and the characters do speak like that. When Steve McQueen does it, it’s artwork.”
In Django Unchained, DiCaprio performs a slave proprietor named Calvin Candie from whom Foxx’s titular character should free his spouse Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Jackson performs Stephen, DiCaprio’s home slave.
It’s value noting that Foxx has advised this story for the reason that film’s launch in 2012. Final yr, he spoke about it on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All of the Smoke podcast.
Django Unchained stays Tarantino’s largest field workplace success, raking in $425 million worldwide. It additionally landed the filmmaker an award for Greatest Authentic Screenplay on the Oscars, the place Christoph Waltz gained Greatest Supporting Actor.
See the place DiCaprio’s portrayal of Candie lands on our listing of Tarantino’s most evil characters.
