We already knew Samuel L. Jackson was more or less confirmed to star as Stephen ,a house slave and the right-hand man of a sadistic slavemaster Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Quentin Tarantino‘s upcoming Django Unchained, but Variety confirmed the news a couple of days ago along with bringing word of a new addition. Gerald McRaney, whom you may remember as the back-stabbing general from Joe Carnahan’s The A-Team, is set for an unspecified role at this time.
However, there is one name that won’t be on board as was previously expected. Kevin Costner has had to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts according to Variety contributor Justin Kroll. Costner was expected to play Ace Woody, the sadistic trainer of the male fighting slaves who entertain the white patrons of Candyland, the club and ranch owned by Calvin Candie, as well as the female slaves who are forced to be prostitutes. It’s an unfortunate loss if you ask me.
As for the film itself, if you’re unfamiliar, it’s going to be shot as an old school spaghetti western with Jamie Foxx playing Django, a slave who teams with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to take on Calvin Candie and free his slave wife, Broomhilda.
Filming is expected to begin inside the next couple of months for a December 25, 2012 release.
