- Title: GERMANY: Tarantino unleashes "Django Unchained" onto German audiences
- Date: 8th January 2013
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 8, 2013) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, SAYING: "It was a great joy for me to embody a villain like that." (SOUNDBITE) (German) ACTOR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, SAYING: "If what you are doing is already the height of pleasure and doing that with somebody who has become an important friend, what more can you say?" PANE
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVAE0ODWJE05W5J8AUMSUAT95BA7
- Story Text: Quentin Tarantino and the cast of "Django Unchained" unlock America's tormented past in Germany.
Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained". On Tuesday (January 8) Tarantino and his cast introduced "Django" to German audiences.
Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."
In "Django Unchained," he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.
Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks. "I wanted it to take place within the backdrop of slavery and I wanted to mix it up so you could actually see the brutality that was perpetrated by the Americans on black slaves. But frankly to put the truth how the reality is, it was about a thousand times worse than what I showed. I couldn't show how bad it was or the movie would be unwatchable," Tarantino told reporters at a news conference in Berlin.
The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.
Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.
The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations to its five Golden Globe nods.
With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.
Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history. "It was a great joy for me to embody a villain like that," said Jackson.
The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."
The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds." Washington said she was pushed to her limits with the role of Broomhilda: "Physical and psychological limits. I kept joking with Quentin that I was going to send him all my extra therapy bills. Which I may still do, actually. But yeah, it was tough."
"Django Unchained" opens in German cinemas on January 17. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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