Deadline is reporting Jamie Foxx has been cast as the title character in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained with a deal not yet made, but negotiations expected to begin soon.
Foxx’s name first entered consideration back in early June along with names that included Will Smith, Idris Elba and Chris Tucker. Smith was reportedly Tarantino’s first choice, but as I reported earlier this morning those talks became “long and fruitless” which resulted in Tarantino looking elsewhere.
Also this morning we learned Elba had been cast in Guillermo del Toro’s creature feature Pacific Rim, which seemingly left us with Foxx and Tucker and at the time Foxx was said to be the front-runner, which has now proven true. I think most of us can say we defer to Tarantino when it comes to casting, but when I asked people to vote for their favorite for the role, Foxx was last on the list with Elba being the fan favorite.
Foxx joins Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson in the film which will find him playing Django, a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey which will see him team up with Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), a German bounty hunter, to take down Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), an evil plantation owner.
Foxx won an Oscar in 2005 for his role in Ray and will next be seen in Horrible Bosses on July 8.
The film is expected to begin production at the end of the summer for a December 25, 2012 release.
