casting

Leonardo DiCaprio Wants to Go Bad for Django Unchained

Leonardo DiCaprio should be flattered, or something: Quentin Tarantino has long wanted the actor to play a villainous bigot in one of his films, and he’s not going to give up. After talking to DiCaprio to play Colonel Hans Landa in the early stages of Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino has now reapproached the actor to play the despicable slave owner Calvin Candie in his new period Western Django Unchained, where the titular Django must fight to rescue his wife from Candie’s plantation, Candyland. And DiCaprio is interested in making a deal happen, too, which may be more than can be said for Will Smith, whom Tarantino first sought to play Django. The Men in Black 3 actor is dragging his feet, and Tarantino has started mulling over Idris Elba, Jamie Foxx, and Chris Tucker to topline the movie instead. Maybe Smith is stymied by a script he can’t freely rewrite? [Deadline]

Leonardo DiCaprio Wants to Go Bad for Django Unchained