Django Unchained is a 2012 American cowboy film made by Quentin Tarantino. The film revolves around the duo’s journey to revenge and rescue their relatives: a black slave named Django (played by Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz, a bounty hunter disguised as a dentist (played by Christoph Waltz).
The film received many nominations and awards, notably Christoph Waltz won the Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor”. In addition, the performances of two other actors, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio (playing Calvin Candie), were also highly appreciated by experts and audiences.
However, at the time Django Unchained was just being developed, director Quentin Tarantino wanted to give the role of Django to Will Smith, not Jamie Foxx. But at that time, Smith flatly rejected this character.
In an interview, Will Smith shared that he felt the role of Django was not the main role, and the actor at that time “needed to be the main role”. More specifically, Smith said he considered the role of Dr. King Schultz is truly the central character.
Because in the movie, that is the character who “kills” the arrogant Francophile plantation owner, Calvin Candie. “Django is not the lead role, but I need to be the lead role. In my opinion, Schultz is the main character. I even begged Quentin, please, let (my role) kill that evil Candie,” he said.
But that wasn’t enough to shake Quentin Tarantino’s planned script, the director immediately refused Smith’s request. At the same time, Will Smith also refused the role of Django. But clearly not as Smith thought, even though Schultz was the last person to kill Candie, Django was the one who “launched” the events of the film.
