Quentin Tarantino Q&A on “Django Unchained”

Few directors can claim A-list status like Quentin Tarantino. He reshaped the movie landscape in the early nineties, as the writer/director responsible for “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown.” His films struck a nerve with a previously unserved audience, and earned him an Oscar for his “Pulp Fiction” screenplay.

The 2000s brought another wave of influential films from the master genre-bending talent. In “Kill Bill,” Uma Thurman’s iconic Bride took revenge on the man who left her for dead.  And in “Inglourious Basterds,” a bunch of vengeance-seeking WWII soldiers go behind enemy lines to execute a plan to take down Hitler.

With “Django Unchained” – for which he already received the Golden Globe Best Screenplay award, and the BAFTA Best Original Screenplay — Tarantino promises to rewrite the rulebook yet again.  The film is also vying for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

An epic revenge thriller about a black slave in the deep south (Jamie Foxx), the curious and deadly German bounty hunter who frees him (Christoph Waltz) and the dangerous slaver (Leonardo DiCaprio) keeping his wife (Kerry Washington), “Django Unchained” is true Tarantino: inventive, funny, and no-holds-barred. From the film’s set, on location at Evergreen Plantation in the heart of Louisiana, Tarantino shares his vision.

Question: It’s taken a long time for you to do a Western, which you’ve long talked about. Is the dream coming true?

            Quentin Tarantino: I’ve always wanted to make a Western. For me, just to be able to make movies is a dream coming true, no matter what genre. When I was doing “Reservoir Dogs” it was a dream come true to do a gangster movie. I like the idea of trying my hand at different genres; a war film, gangsters, a martial arts movie and now a Western. I’ve always liked Westerns, and there’ve been Western elements in the other ones, so it’s actually nice after disguising them a couple of times – especially in the case of “Kill Bill Vol. 2” and “Inglourious Basterds” – to actually be able to do a Western proper. And even then it’s not a Western proper, it takes place in the South. Even in that regard I’m messing with it a little bit.

Q: And you have a German cowboy.

            Tarantino: Yes, but also there’s this interesting aspect, in that an Italian, Franco Nero played Django in that first film. And then there was one with Terrence Hill, called “Django, Prepare a Coffin” where obviously he’s playing the same character. But then all the other 39 Django movies have no connection to Django, and sometimes don’t even have a character called Django in. So I think we fit right along with a whole list of unofficial Django sequels with something other than the Franco Nero character. Yet, at the same time, making him a freed slave is a cool thing, and then throwing this German into the mix as a dentist bounty hunter is its own thing! [laughs]

Q: How did you cast Jamie Foxx?

            Tarantino: We got together and he was just terrific. He understood the story, the context of the story and the historical importance of the film. He’s acting for me, he’s acting for cinema, he’s acting for himself but he’s also acting for his ancestors. He gets to do the things that his ancestors weren’t able to do. It’s a very important story for him and for his people; for all people and all Americans. And he got that. He got it 100%. He’s a terrific actor and he looks perfect for the character, but there’s the aspect that he’s a cowboy; there’s a cowboy quality to him. When I met him, I was imagining that if they cast black guys in the 60s to be the stars of Western TV shows, I could imagine Jamie having his own TV show. He looks good on a horse, and good in the outfit.

Q: Leonardo DiCaprio as Candie, the slaver, is unusual casting. What was it about him?

            Tarantino: Frankly, he let me know he was interested in it. I tried not to be that specific with the character in the script, and I tried not to describe him too much, so it could be open for interpretation. But I was thinking, possibly, of an older actor. And then Leo read the script and liked it and we got together and started talking. I just started imagining how much easier it would be to reconfigure the guy as a Caligula; a boy emperor. His daddy’s daddy’s daddy started a cotton business and his daddy’s daddy continued it and made it profitable, and his daddy made it even more profitable. Now he’s the fourth Candie in line to take over the cotton business and he’s bored with it now. He doesn’t care about cotton; that’s why he’s all into the Mandingo fighters and everything. But he’s the petulant boy prince. He’s Louis XIV in Versailles. And there’s a wonderful aspect going on there, just looking at it; if you own a plantation and you have white workers working for you, and all these black slaves and a gigantic parcel of land, you might as well have been a king on your land. The big house would be your palace, and all the people are your subjects. Really, you had the power of a king. So I wanted to really play with that idea, of King Louis XIV, but in the South. Candie Land is a completely enclosed community, about 65 miles long and that’s a fiefdom. He has the power of a king; he can execute people, or do whatever he wants.

Q: After “Jackie Brown,” this is another exploration of racial issues. Is there ever any hesitation in approaching subjects like these?

            Tarantino: There’s no hesitation at all. I always know that a couple of people will say some things about it, but then that goes away and the movie is the movie. Also, I don’t let anything anybody might possibly say ever stop me from doing anything anyway. So, no, that doesn’t bother me, and anytime someone talks too much about that I go, “Yeah, that’s true, but at the same time it’s also a cool Western.”

(Opening across the Philippines on March 13, “Django Unchained” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.  Visit www.columbiapictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games.)