Twitter, the source for breaking news and erroneous rumors, has once again sparked chatter surrounding Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and this time it’s at least direct chatter unlike the speculative Idris Elba article I wrote over the weekend.
This time around it’s Jeff Goldsmith of Creative Screenwriting reporting on Twitter the following message:
Casting Rumor: Leonardo DiCaprio WILL play villian [sic] Calvin Candie in Tarantino’s Django Unchained! QT wanted him for I.B. & now has him!
If you aren’t entirely clear on what’s being said there, let’s start at the top. Django Unchained centers on Django (a role Will Smith is said to be the front-runner for), a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey which will see him team up with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German bounty hunter, to take down Monsieur Calvin Candie, an evil plantation owner.
As for the “QT wanted him for I.B.” part of the tweet, that is referring to Tarantino originally wanting DiCaprio to play Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds before the role ultimately, and thankfully, went to Waltz.
Now how seriously should we take this DiCaprio as Candie rumor? Well, Jeff Sneider of Variety took to Twitter following Goldsmith’s tweet to say he’d heard the same thing last week, but that the news is not confirmed. It is important to note, however, that Goldsmith was one of the first to mention Will Smith was the front-runner for the lead role in the film.
Another thing to consider is the original Variety article, also written by Sneider, that said “Tarantino is believed to have written the role of Dr. Schultz for DiCaprio, but when he passed, it was modified for Waltz.” Considering Sneider is also placing his name to this new rumor, at the moment, I think we can at least say this isn’t an old casting note resurfacing as a new rumor.
As far as DiCaprio’s upcoming slate is concerned, the one thing that could put a kink in all of this is the Inception star’s involvement in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby as both films are expected to shoot this fall. Of course, schedules can always be modified.
Thanks to Slash Film for helping contribute to this report.
