Movie TalkComic-Con 2012: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ rides into town
Another morning of Comic Con brought another mother of a line for Hall H, with rampant fans queuing up to see Quentin Tarantino's sneak peek of his epic western "Django Unchained," Or maybe they were more excited to hear from the famously quote-worthy director and members of the cast, including Jamie Foxx.
The moderator introduced Foxx first, who plays Django, the freed slave turned bounty hunter, who exacts serious revenge on the Antebellum south; Walton Goggins, who plays Billy Crash, the man who helps keep Leonardo DiCaprio's plantation "Candyland" in line; Don Johnson -- sporting shades, a samurai pony tail, and a salt n' pepper Fu Manchu — who plays plantation owner/Colonel Sanders look alike Big Daddy; Christoph Waltz, who actually received the biggest applause and plays the dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz; and Kerry Washington, lovely and beaming, playing Foxx's wife, Broomhilda.
And last, but obviously not least, Tarantino was introduced, looking a little plump, wearing shades, a fedora covering his neck length hair, and a t-shirt showing all his cinematic characters as kids fighting in a sand pit. His cast stood to applaud him, as did many fans.
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While the panel started with interesting questions and entertaining answers, the highlight of the morning panel was definitely the eight minute sizzle reel full of exclusive footage.
The reel starts with Django chained to six other slaves, all of whom have been walking for many miles, and been whipped and beaten many times.
Along comes Dr. Shultz, riding a cart with a giant tooth on top. He's looking for Django specifically. After introducing his horse, he blows away the chain gang bosses. He frees the seven slaves, but talks Django into coming with him with a promise finding the Brittle Brothers, the men who are worth a large bounty and whom Django can identify. Django is also given the opportunity to find his wife, who he has been separated from. Along the way, Dr. Shultz plans on visiting every plantation, bounty hunting.
So, Dr. S must teach his protégé how to become a bounty hunter. But apparently back then, bounties were for bodies, not returned inmates. Dr. S tells Django, while showing him how to shoot, "Once you get smooth, then you get fast."
They visit Big Daddy's plantation with Django posing as Dr. Shultz's valet, and for some reason he's dressed in a bright blue suit and huge white bow tie. Big Daddy, in his all-white suit and silver Fu Manchu, invites Shultz inside and has one his slaves show Django the grounds. What he's really looking for, though, is a Brittle brother.
He finds a Brittle brother who is about to whip a slave, and Django's bounty hunting prowess becomes obvious. While blasting him dead, Django says, "I like the way you die, boy."
Queue up James Brown's "Super Bad." It's on.
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We first see Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, the head of the biggest plantation around, presented as a king in a kingdom that has abused its power.
As "Super Bad" blares, we are introduced to black and white title cards of the cast, with blood red dripping down over them. The sizzle ends with lots of white people getting blown away in fantastically fun and redemptive ways.
The footage ended and crowd went nuts.
In the discussion, Tarantino said he has been working on the project for "13 years," fueled by his love for "Spaghetti Westerns" from Italy in the '60s and '70s. When asked if he was concerned about historical inaccuracies -- this is the man who gunned down Hitler in "Inglourious Basterds," after all -- Tarantino said his depiction of the Antebellum South "can't be more nightmarish than it was in real life."
For his part, Jamie Foxx called Tarantino's script "courageous and controversial" in its depiction of race issues. He said he drew upon his own experience having racist slurs hurled at him during his childhood in Texas. Foxx said, "By having that done to me, I was able to grasp what was being done in the script."
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Naturally, being a Quentin Tarantino film, there were plenty of pop culture references in the panel discussion. With stars from both the TV and movie versions of "Miami Vice" on stage with him, Tarantino bragged to the crowd, "You do realize we have Crockett and Tubbs in the same movie." He also stated that Kerry Washington's character, named Broomhilda von Shaft, was the ancestor of John Shaft, the blaxploitation hero played by Richard Roundtree in 1971 (and again by costar Samuel L. Jackson in 2000).
"Django Unchained" breaks loose into theaters on Christmas.
Watch the first trailer for 'Django Unchained':
