Jamie Foxx is diving into his first Quentin Tarantino film, “Django Unchained” — a slavery-themed western that, according the actor, is certain to spark conversation.
“The courageousness of the script, the courageousness of Quentin Tarantino to tell the story and the first western to acknowledge slavery [will get people talking],” Jamie told Access Hollywood’s Scott Mantz at Comic-Con on Friday. “To see a slave go from a slave to a bounty hunter to a hero, [it’s] a true love story… It’s probably the realest representation of what [slavery] was at that time — the language, the brutality of it, but also the heart and the love story of Django, who was married, and at that time, to be black and married could get you killed.
“[Django] does all of this to have his woman — he’s not trying to cure or stop slavery — he just wants to love his woman,” he continued. “When you have something like that and Quentin Tarantino and a western and cowboy hats and horses and six-shooters, and I get a chance to ride my own horse in the movie, it’s a hot one!”
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises to Jamie was the tenacity of co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a sinister plantation owner in the gritty film.
“Leo really came to play, man. I mean, from looking outside of Leonardo DiCaprio’s life you would think he’s a good looking guy who dates the models and has this sort of superstar life,” Jamie said, of his initial impression of Leo. “[But] he came in with his lunch pail and just really got really, really got down and pushed the envelope of the movie to where you couldn’t sleep because you wanted to get on set and be on your toes, because he was really bringing it!”
Adding, “To watch him and Quentin work together, it was just amazing to see the performance he got out of him. And him and Samuel Jackson together — bad guys, but at the same time I think only these guys could play these [villains] because [they’re] just amazing.”