Kerry Washington was first rumored to play Broomhilda, the slave wife to the title character in Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, all the way back in June and as far as I know she was the only name ever linked to the role and now it is officially hers.
Deadline.com reports Washington will play Broomhilda, the long-suffering slave wife of Django (Jamie Foxx), who is freed by a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) and taught the tricks of that trade. Django’s real desire is to be reunited with his wife, who winds up in a variety of unsavory places and whose travails drive the plot. It leads to a confrontation in Candyland, a ranch owned by the notorious Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
This will be the second time Washington has played the wife opposite Foxx after playing Della Bea Robinson, wife to Ray Charles played by Foxx, in Taylor Hackford’s Ray in 2004.
The reason it took this long to name Washington was Tarantino was hoping to make a discovery with the role, which led to a long casting process, but ultimately Washington obviously won out.
Django Unchained is set for a Christmas Day 2012 release and the rest of the current cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Gerald McRaney, Dennis Christopher, Kurt Russell and Don Johnson. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also recently mentioned as a potential cast member, though that is yet to be officially confirmed.
Filming is expected to begin in New Orleans in January.
