NOTE: There are some spoilers for Django Unchained in this article.
When doing the press rounds for Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino commented on why his first choice for the role of Django, Will Smith, decided not to star saying, “He didn’t walk away from it because he was scared of the material. It just wasn’t 100 percent right, and we didn’t have time to try to make it that way.” As we know, Jamie Foxx ended up with the lead role, but not before Tarantino also considered Idris Elba, Chris Tucker, Terrence Howard, Michael K. Williams and Tyrese.
However, there is the lingering question as to what exactly wasn’t 100% right about the project for Smith? Well, speaking with EW, Smith confirms it wasn’t an issue with the material, but he did have a small problem with the character, or at least the character as the film portrayed him and it’s a comment many that saw the film have also made.
Smith told the rag, “Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character [Christoph Waltz‘s Oscar-winning King Schultze] was the lead! I was like ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!”
Interesting Smith would say this considering Waltz eventually won Best Supporting Actor at the 2013 Oscars, but then again I don’t think any of us believe category fraud has ever not been a part of the Oscars.
Smith did end up seeing the film and said, “I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me.”
It is fascinating, however, that Smith would bail on the project only because he didn’t see his character as the star. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but think there is more to it than that. Smith is a Hollywood star, no doubt about it, but I have to assume he had a problem with Django not getting to pull the trigger on Leonardo DiCaprio‘s character considering the nature of the material… then again, considering Django gets to lay waste to virtually everyone else, I would think that more than made up for it.
What do you think?
Also, remember, Django Unchained hits DVD and Blu-ray on April 16. Order the Blu-ray here and the DVD here.
