Django Unchained Explained
Django Unchained |
Director: | Quentin Tarantino |
Cinematography: | Robert Richardson |
Editing: | Fred Raskin |
Runtime: | 165 minutes[1] |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Budget: | $100 million[2] |
Gross: | $426 million |
Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western[3] film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles.
Set in the Antebellum South and Old West, it is a highly stylized, revisionist tribute to spaghetti Westerns. Its title refers particularly to the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci (that film's star, Franco Nero, has a cameo appearance in Tarantino's). The story follows a slave who trains under a German bounty hunter with the ultimate goal of reuniting with his wife.
Development of Django Unchained began in 2007 when Tarantino was writing a book on Corbucci. By April 2011, Tarantino sent his final draft of the script to The Weinstein Company (TWC). Casting began in the summer of 2011, with Michael K. Williams and Will Smith being considered for the role of the title character before Foxx was cast. Principal photography took place from November 2011 to March 2012 in California, Wyoming, and Louisiana.
The premiere of Django Unchained took place at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 11, 2012, and was theatrically released on December 25, 2012, in the United States. It grossed $426 million worldwide against its budget of $100 million, becoming Tarantino's highest-grossing movie to-date.
The film received acclaim from critics, mainly for Waltz's performance and Tarantino's direction and screenplay. The film's extensive graphic violence and frequent use of the derogatory word "nigger" were controversial. The film received numerous awards and nominations, winning two out of five nominations at the 85th Academy Awards. Waltz won several awards for his performance, among them Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. For his screenplay, Tarantino won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA.
Plot
In 1858 Texas, brothers Ace and Dicky Speck drive a group of shackled black slaves. Among them is Django, sold off and separated from his wife von Shaft, a house slave who speaks German and English. They are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter seeking to buy Django for his knowledge of the three outlaw Brittle brothers. They were overseers at the plantation of Django's previous owner and Schultz has a warrant for their arrests.
Ace refuses to sell Django to Schultz and threatens him. Schultz kills Ace and shoots Dicky's horse to pin him to the ground. He encourages the freed slaves to take revenge, and they shoot Dicky to death. Schultz offers Django his freedom and $75 in exchange for help tracking down the Brittles.
Django and Schultz kill the Brittle brothers at Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett's Tennessee plantation. In turn, Bennett pursues them with an armed posse. Schultz ambushes the posse with explosives, and Django kills Bennett. Feeling responsible for Django, Schultz agrees to help him find and rescue, and Schultz trains Django to become a bounty hunter. They return to Texas, where Django collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill as a memento and for good luck. He and Schultz rack up several bounties before spring when they travel to Mississippi and learn that 's new owner is Calvin J. Candie, owner of the "Candyland" plantation. There he forces male slaves to wrestle to the death in brutal "Mandingo" fights.
Schultz and Django hatch a plan: deciding that Candie will refuse to sell Broomhilda if they try to buy her upfront, they will instead offer for one of his best fighters as a pretext to acquire Broomhilda for a nominal sum. They intend to leave the plantation with Broomhilda under the pretense of returning with the purchase money for a fighter. They meet Candie at his gentlemen's club and make the offer. Intrigued, Candie invites them to Candyland. En route, the group encounters Candie's slave trackers, who have cornered D'Artagnan, an escaped Mandingo fighter. Django is forced to intervene when Schultz attempts to buy D'Artagnan to save him. Candie has the trackers' guard dogs maul D'Artagnan to death, visibly upsetting Schultz.
Having told of their plan, Schultz offers to buy her as his escort while negotiating the initial Mandingo deal during dinner. Candie's loyal house slave Stephen is suspicious after realizing that and Django know each other. He deduces their plan and alerts Candie.
Enraged, Candie tells Schultz at gunpoint that he won't sell Broomhilda for less than $12,000; Schultz reluctantly agrees. Candie threatens to kill Broomhilda if Schultz does not shake his hand to seal the deal. Having had enough of Candie's arrogance, Schultz shoots and kills Candie. Butch Pooch, Candie's bodyguard, kills Schultz, and Django kills Pooch, Candie's lawyer Leonide Moguy, and many of Candie's henchmen in a prolonged gunfight. He is forced to surrender when is taken hostage.
The next morning, the chained Django is tortured and about to be castrated by overseer Billy Crash when Stephen arrives, informing him that Candie's sister Lara, who has taken charge of the plantation, has ordered him to be sold to a mining company and worked to death. En route to the mines along with other slaves, Django devises an escape plan. He uses his first handbill to prove to his escorts that he is a bounty hunter. He claims that the men on the handbill are at Candyland, and promises the escorts a share of the reward money. Once released and handed a gun, Django immediately kills his escorts, retrieves his clothes and weapons, and returns to Candyland with dynamite.
Recovering 's freedom papers from Schultz's corpse, Django bids his deceased mentor goodbye and avenges him and D'Artagnan by killing the trackers. He frees just as Candie's mourners return from his burial. At the mansion, Django kills Lara, Crash, and the remaining henchmen, releases the two remaining house slaves, and kneecaps Stephen before igniting the dynamite he had planted throughout the mansion, leaving him for dead. Django and watch from a distance as the mansion explodes before riding off together.
Cast
Other roles include: James Russo as Dicky Speck, brother of Ace Speck and erstwhile owner of Django; Tom Wopat, Omar J. Dorsey, and Don Stroud play U.S. Marshal Gill Tatum, Chicken Charlie, and as Sheriff Bill Sharp / Willard Peck respectively; Bruce Dern appears as Old Man Carrucan, the owner of the Carrucan Plantation; M. C. Gainey, Cooper Huckabee, and Doc Duhame portray brothers Big John Brittle, Roger "Lil Raj" Brittle, and Ellis Brittle respectively, overseers of both Carrucan and Big Daddy's plantations.
Jonah Hill plays Bag Head #2, a member of Bennett's masked white supremacist group. Additional roles include Lee Horsley as Sheriff Gus, Rex Linn as Tennessee Harry, Misty Upham as Minnie, and Danièle Watts as Coco. Russ Tamblyn and his daughter Amber appear as townspeople in Daugherty, Texas; their roles are respectively credited as "Son of a Gunfighter" and "Daughter of Son of a Gunfighter". Zoë Bell, Michael Bowen, Robert Carradine, Jake Garber, Ted Neeley, James Parks, and Tom Savini play Candyland trackers. Jacky Ido, who played Marcel in Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, makes an uncredited appearance as a slave. Michael Parks as Roy and John Jarratt as Floyd, alongside Tarantino himself in a cameo appearance as Frankie, play the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company employees. Tarantino also appears in the film as a masked Bag Head named Robert.
Production
Development
In 2007, Quentin Tarantino discussed an idea for a type of Spaghetti Western set in the United States' pre-Civil War Deep South. He called this type of film "a Southern", stating that he wanted: Tarantino later explained the genesis of the idea:
Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.[4] In October 2012, frequent Tarantino collaborator RZA said that he and Tarantino had intended to cross over Django Unchained with RZA's Tarantino-presented martial-arts film The Man with the Iron Fists. The crossover would have seen a younger version of the blacksmith character from RZA's film appear as a slave in an auction. However, scheduling conflicts prevented RZA's participation.[5]
One inspiration for the film is Corbucci's 1966 Spaghetti Western Django, whose star Franco Nero has a cameo appearance in Django Unchained.[6] Another inspiration is the 1975 film Mandingo, about a slave trained to fight other slaves. Tarantino included scenes in the snow as a homage to the 1968 film The Great Silence.[7] "Silenzio takes place in the snow. I liked the action in the snow so much, Django Unchained has a big snow section in the middle," Tarantino said in an interview. Tarantino credits the character and attitude of the German dentist turned bounty hunter King Schultz to the German Karl May Wild West films of the 1960s, namely their hero Old Shatterhand.[8]
The title Django Unchained alludes to the titles of the 1966 Corbucci film Django; Hercules Unchained, the American title for the 1959 Italian epic fantasy film Ercole e la regina di Lidia, about the mythical hero's escape from enslavement to a wicked master; and to Angel Unchained, the 1970 American biker film about a biker exacting revenge on a large group of rednecks.[9] [10]
Casting
Among those considered for the title role of Django, Michael K. Williams and Will Smith were mentioned as possibilities, but in the end Jamie Foxx was cast in the role.[11] [12] Smith later said he turned down the role because it "wasn't the lead" and was "not for me," but stated he thought the movie was brilliant.[13] Tyrese Gibson sent in an audition tape as the character.[14] Franco Nero, the original Django from the 1966 Italian film, was rumored for the role of Calvin Candie,[15] but instead was given a cameo appearance as a minor character. Nero suggested that he play a mysterious horseman who haunts Django in visions and is revealed in an ending flashback to be Django's father; Tarantino opted not to use the idea.[16] [17] Kevin Costner was in negotiations to join as Ace Woody,[18] a Mandingo trainer and Candie's right-hand man, but Costner dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.[19] Kurt Russell was cast instead[20] but also later left the role.[21] When Kurt Russell dropped out, the role of Ace Woody was not recast; instead, the character was merged with Walton Goggins's character, Billy Crash.[22]
Jonah Hill was offered the role of Scotty Harmony, a gambler who loses to Candie in a poker game,[23] but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with The Watch.[24] [25] Sacha Baron Cohen was also offered the role, but declined in order to appear in Les Misérables. Neither Scotty nor the poker game appear in the final cut of the film. Hill later appeared in the film in a different role.[26] Joseph Gordon-Levitt said that he "would have loved, loved to have" been in the film but would be unable to appear because of a prior commitment to direct his first film, Don Jon.[27]
Costume design
In a January 2013 interview with Vanity Fair, costume designer Sharen Davis said much of the film's wardrobe was inspired by spaghetti Westerns and other works of art. For Django's wardrobe, Davis and Tarantino watched the television series Bonanza and referred to it frequently. The pair even hired the hatmaker who designed the hat worn by the Bonanza character Little Joe, played by Michael Landon. Davis described Django's look as a "rock-n-roll take on the character". Django's sunglasses were inspired by Charles Bronson's character in The White Buffalo (1977). Davis used Thomas Gainsborough oil painting The Blue Boy as a reference for Django's valet outfit.[28]
In the final scene, wears a dress similar to that of Ida Galli's character in Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965). Davis said the idea of Calvin Candie's costume came partly from Rhett Butler, and that Don Johnson's signature Miami Vice look inspired Big Daddy's cream-colored linen suit in the film. King Schultz's faux chinchilla coat was inspired by Telly Savalas in Kojak. Davis also revealed that many of her costume ideas did not make the final cut of the film, leaving some unexplained characters such as Zoë Bell's tracker, who was intended to drop her bandana to reveal an absent jaw. [29]
Filming
Principal photography for Django Unchained started in California in November 2011[30] continuing in Wyoming in February 2012[31] and at the National Historic Landmark Evergreen Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans, in March 2012.[32] The film was shot in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film.[33] Although originally scripted, a sub-plot centering on Zoë Bell's masked tracker was cut, and remained unfilmed, due to time constraints.[34] After 130 shooting days, the film wrapped up principal photography in July 2012.[35] Kerry Washington sought to bring authenticity to her performance in several ways. The actor playing her overseer used a fake whip, but Washington insisted the lashings really hit her back. And to dramatize her punishment inside an underground, coffin-size metal container, she and Tarantino agreed she would spend time barely clothed in the "hot box" before the filming began so the feeling of confinement would be as realistic as possible.[36]
Django Unchained was the first Tarantino film not edited by Sally Menke, who died in 2010. Editing duties were instead handled by Fred Raskin, who had worked as an assistant editor on Tarantino's Kill Bill.[37] Raskin was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing but lost to William Goldenberg for his work on Argo.
Broken glass incident
During the scene when DiCaprio's character explains phrenology, DiCaprio cut his left hand upon striking the table and smashing a small glass. Despite his hand profusely bleeding, DiCaprio barely reacted and remained in character under the astonished eyes of his fellow actors. He is seen taking out pieces of broken glass from his hand during the scene. After Tarantino's cut, there was a standing ovation by the other actors to praise DiCaprio's performance despite the incident;[38] Tarantino, therefore, decided to keep this sequence in the final cut. DiCaprio is seen with his left hand bandaged in the scene after when he is signing Broomhilda's papers. Contrary to popular belief, DiCaprio wiped fake blood on Washington's face in a separate take.[39]
Music
See main article: Django Unchained (soundtrack). The film features both original and existing music tracks. Tracks composed specifically for the film include "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross and produced by and featuring Jamie Foxx, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "Ancora Qui" by Ennio Morricone and Elisa, and "Freedom" by Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton.[40] The theme, "Django", was also the theme song of the 1966 film.[41]
Musician Frank Ocean wrote an original song for the film's soundtrack, but it was rejected by Tarantino, who explained that "Ocean wrote a fantastic ballad that was truly lovely and poetic in every way, but there just wasn't a scene for it."[42] Ocean later published the song, entitled "Wiseman", on his Tumblr blog. The film also features a few famous pieces of western classical music, including Beethoven's "Für Elise" and "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem. Tarantino has stated that he avoids using full scores of original music: "I just don't like the idea of giving that much power to anybody on one of my movies."[43] [44] The film's soundtrack album was released on December 18, 2012.
Morricone made statements criticizing Tarantino's use of his music in Django Unchained and stated that he would "never work" with the director after this film,[45] but later agreed to compose an original film score for Tarantino's The Hateful Eight in 2015. In a scholarly essay on the film's music, Hollis Robbins notes that the vast majority of film music borrowings comes from films made between 1966 and 1974 and argues that the political and musical resonances of these allusions situate Django Unchained squarely in the Vietnam and Watergate era, during the rise and decline of Black Power cinema.[46] Jim Croce's hit "I Got a Name" was featured in the soundtrack.
Release
Marketing
The first teaser poster was inspired by a fan-art poster by Italian artist Federico Mancosu. His artwork was published in May 2011, a few days after the synopsis and the official title were released to the public. In August 2011, at Tarantino's request, the production companies bought the concept artwork from Mancosu to use for promotional purposes as well as on the crew passes and clothing for staff during filming.[47]
Theatrical run
Django Unchained was released on December 25, 2012, in the United States by The Weinstein Company and released on January 18, 2013, by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United Kingdom.[48] [49] The film was screened for the first time at the Directors Guild of America on December 1, 2012, with additional screening events having been held for critics leading up to the film's wide release.[50] The premiere of Django Unchained was delayed by one week following the shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.[51]
The film was released on March 22, 2013, by Sony Pictures in India.[52] In March 2013, Django Unchained was announced to be the first Tarantino film approved for official distribution in China's strictly controlled film market.[53] Lily Kuo, writing for Quartz, wrote that "the film depicts one of America's darker periods, when slavery was legal, which Chinese officials like to use to push back against criticism from the United States".[54] The film was released in China on May 12, 2013.[55]
Home media
The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download on April 16, 2013.[56] In the United States, the film has grossed $31,939,733 from DVD sales and $30,286,838 from Blu-ray sales, making a total of $62,226,571.[57]
Reception
Box office
Django Unchained grossed $162.8 million in the United States and Canada and $263.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $426 million, against a production budget of $100 million., Django Unchained is Tarantino's highest-grossing film, surpassing his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, which grossed $321.4 million worldwide.[58]
In North America, the film made $15 million on Christmas Day, finishing second behind fellow opener Les Misérables.[59] It was the third-biggest opening day figure for a film on Christmas, following Sherlock Holmes ($24.6 million) and Les Misérables ($18.1 million).[60] It went on to make $30.1 million in its opening weekend (a six-day total of $63.4 million), finishing second behind holdover .[61]
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 291 reviews, and an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bold, bloody, and stylistically daring, Django Unchained is another incendiary masterpiece from Quentin Tarantino."[62] Metacritic, which assigns a rating to reviews, gives the film a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[63] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[64]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and said: "The film offers one sensational sequence after another, all set around these two intriguing characters who seem opposites but share pragmatic, financial and personal issues." Ebert also added, "had I not been prevented from seeing it sooner because of an injury, this would have been on my year's best films list."[65] Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, awarded the film five stars, writing: "I can only say Django delivers, wholesale, that particular narcotic and delirious pleasure that Tarantino still knows how to confect in the cinema, something to do with the manipulation of surfaces. It's as unwholesome, deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette."[66]
Writing in The New York Times, critic A. O. Scott compared Django to Tarantino's earlier Inglourious Basterds: "Like Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained is crazily entertaining, brazenly irresponsible and also ethically serious in a way that is entirely consistent with its playfulness." Designating the film a Times "critics" pick, Scott said Django is "a troubling and important movie about slavery and racism."[67] Filmmaker Michael Moore praised Django, tweeting that the movie "is one of the best film satires ever."[68] Dan Jolin of Empire magazine praised DiCaprio's performance, saying he "plays [the role of Candie] to hateful perfection: a spiteful, brown-toothed bully, avaricious, vain and prone to flattery", but criticized Foxx as a comparatively weak link whose "soft, musical voice [...] jars against Django's terse deliveries".[69]
To the contrary, Owen Gleiberman, film critic for the Entertainment Weekly, wrote: "Django isn't nearly the film that Inglourious was. It's less clever, and it doesn't have enough major characters – or enough of Tarantino's trademark structural ingenuity – to earn its two-hour-and-45-minute running time."[70] In his review for the Indy Week, David Fellerath wrote: "Django Unchained shows signs that Tarantino did little research beyond repeated viewings of Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti Western Django and a blaxploitation from 1975 called Boss Nigger, written by and starring Fred Williamson."[71] New Yorkers Anthony Lane was "disturbed by their [Tarantino's fans'] yelps of triumphant laughter, at the screening I attended, as a white woman was blown away by Django's guns."[72]
An entire issue of the academic journal Safundi was devoted to Django Unchained in "Django Unchained and the Global Western," featuring scholars who contextualize Tarantino's film as a classic "Western".[73] Dana Phillips writes: "Tarantino's film is immensely entertaining, not despite but because it is so very audacious—even, at times, downright lurid, thanks to its treatment of slavery, race relations, and that staple of the Western, violence. No doubt these are matters that another director would have handled more delicately, and with less stylistic excess, than Tarantino, who has never been bashful. Another director also would have been less willing to proclaim his film the first in a new genre, the 'Southern'."[74]
Top ten lists
Django Unchained was listed on many critics' top ten lists of 2012.[75]
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Claudia Puig, USA Today
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Stephanie Zacharek, Film.com
- 1st – Amy Nicholson, Movieline
- 2nd – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
- 2nd – Drew McWeeny, Hitfix
- 2nd – Michelle Orange, The Village Voice
- 2nd – Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club
- 2nd – Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times (tied with Lincoln)
- 3rd – Richard Jameson, MSN Movies
- 3rd – Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice
- 4th – Mark Mohan, The Oregonian
- 4th – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
- 4th – James Rocchi, MSN Movies
- 4th – Kristopher Tapley, HitFix
- 4th – Drew Taylor & Caryn James, Indiewire
- 5th - The Huffington Post
- 5th – David Ehrlich, Movies.com
- 5th – Scott Foundas, The Village Voice
- 5th – Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
- 6th – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
- 6th – Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
- 6th – Kat Murphy, MSN Movies
- 6th – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
- 6th – Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune
- 7th – Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader
- 7th – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
- 8th – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
- 9th – Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
- 10th – Karina Longworth, The Village Voice
- 10th – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
- 10th – Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast
- 10th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Accolades
See main article: List of accolades received by Django Unchained. Django Unchained garnered several awards and nominations. The American Film Institute named it one of its Top Ten Movies of the Year in December 2012.[76] The film received five Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Picture, and Best Director and Best Screenplay for Tarantino. Tarantino won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.[77] [78] Christoph Waltz received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor, his second time receiving all three awards, having previously won for his role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.[79] [80] [81] The NAACP Image Awards gave the film four nominations, while the National Board of Review named DiCaprio their Best Supporting Actor.[82] [83] Django Unchained earned a nomination for Best Theatrical Motion Picture from the Producers Guild of America.[84]
Controversy
Racist language and portrayal of African American slavery
Some commentators thought that the film's over usage of the word "nigger" is inappropriate; they objected to that even more than to the extensive violence depicted against the slaves.[85] Other reviewers[86] have defended the usage of the language in the historical context of race and slavery in the United States.[87]
African-American filmmaker Spike Lee, in an interview with Vibe, said he would not see the film, explaining "All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me ... I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else."[88] Lee later wrote, "American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a Holocaust. My ancestors are slaves stolen from Africa. I will honor them."[89]
Actor and activist Jesse Williams has contrasted accuracy of the racist language used in the film with what he sees as the film's lack of accuracy about the general lives of slaves, too often portrayed as "well-dressed Negresses in flowing gowns, frolicking on swings and enjoying leisurely strolls through the grounds, as if the setting is Versailles, mixed in with occasional acts of barbarism against slaves ... That authenticity card that Tarantino uses to buy all those 'niggers' has an awfully selective memory."[90] He also criticizes what seems to be a lack of solidarity among slave characters, and their general lack of a will to escape from slavery, with Django as the notable exception.
Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe praised the realism of the villain Stephen, played by Samuel L. Jackson, comparing him to such black Republicans as Clarence Thomas or Herman Cain.[91]
Jackson said that he believed his character to have "the same moral compass as Clarence Thomas does".[92] Jackson defended the extensive use of the word "nigger": "Saying Tarantino said 'nigger' too many times is like complaining they said 'kyke' [sic] too many times in a movie about Nazis."[93] The review by Jesse Williams notes, however, that these antisemitic terms were not used nearly as frequently in Tarantino's film about Nazis, Inglourious Basterds, as he used "nigger" in Django. He suggested that the Jewish community would not have accepted it.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan noted the difference between Tarantino's Jackie Brown and Django Unchained: "It is an institution whose horrors need no exaggerating, yet Django does exactly that, either to enlighten or entertain. A white director slinging around the n-word in a homage to '70s blaxploitation à la Jackie Brown is one thing, but the same director turning the savageness of slavery into pulp fiction is quite another."[94]
While hosting NBC's Saturday Night Live, Jamie Foxx joked about being excited "to kill all the white people in the movie".[95] Conservative columnist Jeff Kuhner responded to the SNL skit for The Washington Times, saying: "Anti-white bigotry has become embedded in our postmodern culture. Take Django Unchained. The movie boils down to one central theme: the white man as devil—a moral scourge who must be eradicated like a lethal virus."[96]
Samuel L. Jackson said to Vogue Man that "Django Unchained was a harder and more detailed exploration of what the slavery experience was than 12 Years a Slave, but director Steve McQueen is an artist and since he's respected for making supposedly art films, it's held in higher esteem than Django, because that was basically a blaxploitation movie."[97]
Use of violence
The film became infamous for its brutality, with some reviews criticizing it for being much too violent.[98] The originally planned premiere of Django was postponed following the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 14, 2012.[99] Thomas Frank criticized the film's use of violence as follows:
Not surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino has lately become the focus for this sort of criticism (about the relationship between the movies and acts of violence). The fact that Django Unchained arrived in theaters right around the time of the Sandy Hook massacre didn't help. Yet he has refused to give an inch in discussing the link between movie violence and real life. Obviously I don't think one has to do with the other. Movies are about make-believe. It's about imagination. Part of the thing is trying to create a realistic experience, but we are faking it. Is it possible that anyone in our cynical world credits a self-serving sophistry like this? Of course an industry under fire will claim that its hands are clean, just as the NRA has done – and of course a favorite son, be it Tarantino or LaPierre, can be counted on to make the claim louder than anyone else. But do they really believe that imaginative expression is without consequence?[100]
The Independent said the movie was part of "the new sadism in cinema" and added, "There is something disconcerting about sitting in a crowded cinema as an audience guffaws at the latest garroting or falls about in hysterics as someone is beheaded or has a limb lopped off".[101]
Adam Serwer from Mother Jones said, "Django, like many Tarantino films, also has been criticized as cartoonishly violent, but it is only so when Django is killing slave owners and overseers. The violence against slaves is always appropriately terrifying. This, if nothing else, puts Django in the running for Tarantino's best film, the first one in which he discovers violence as horror rather than just spectacle. When Schultz turns his head away from a slave being torn apart by dogs, Django explains to Calvin Candie—the plantation owner played by Leo DiCaprio—that Schultz just isn't used to Americans."[102]
"Mandingo" fights
Although Tarantino has said about Mandingo fighting, "I was always aware those things existed", there is no definitive historical evidence that slave owners ever staged gladiator-like fights to the death between male slaves like the fight depicted in the movie.[103] [104] Historian Edna Greene Medford notes that there are only undocumented rumors that such fights took place.[105] David Blight, the director of Yale's center for the study of slavery, said it was not a matter of moral or ethical reservations that prevented slave owners from pitting slaves against each other in combat, but rather economic self-interest: slave owners would not have wanted to put their substantial financial investments at risk in gladiatorial battles.
The non-historical term "Mandingo" for a fine fighting or breeding slave comes not from Tarantino, but the 1975 film Mandingo,[106] which was itself based on a 1957 novel with the same title.
Historical inaccuracies
Writing in The New Yorker, William Jelani Cobb observed that Tarantino's occasional historical elasticity sometimes worked to the film's advantage. "There are moments," Cobb wrote, "where this convex history works brilliantly, like when Tarantino depicts the Ku Klux Klan a decade prior to its actual formation in order to thoroughly ridicule its members' veiled racism."[107] Tarantino holds that the masked marauders depicted in the film were not the KKK, but a group known as "The Regulators". They were depicted as spiritual forebears of the later post-civil war KKK and not as the actual KKK.[108] [109]
On the matter of historical accuracy, Christopher Caldwell wrote in the Financial Times: "Of course, we must not mistake a feature film for a public television documentary", pointing out that the film should be treated as entertainment, not as a historical account of the period it is set in. "Django uses slavery the way a pornographic film might use a nurses' convention: as a pretext for what is really meant to entertain us. What is really meant to entertain us in Django is violence."[110] Richard Brody, however, wrote in The New Yorker that Tarantino's "vision of slavery's monstrosity is historically accurate.... Tarantino rightly depicts slavery as no mere administrative ownership but a grievous and monstrous infliction of cruelty."[111]
One minor historical inaccuracy in the film is Schultz's hideout gun. The Remington over/under .41 derringer was not introduced until 1865.
Alleged copyright infringement
In December 2015, a $100 million lawsuit was filed against Tarantino by filmmakers Oscar Colvin Jr. and Torrance J. Colvin, who claimed that the script for Django Unchained bears extensive similarities to their film, titled Freedom. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Washington, DC.[112] [113] On January 24, 2017, the lawsuit was dismissed.[114]
Comic book adaptations
A comic book adaptation of Django Unchained was released by DC Comics in 2013. In 2015, a sequel crossover comic entitled Django/Zorro was released by Dynamite Entertainment, co-written by Tarantino and Matt Wagner, the latter being the first comic book sequel to a Quentin Tarantino film.[115]
Future
Proposed miniseries
Tarantino has said in an interview that he has 90 minutes of unused material and considered re-editing Django Unchained into a four-hour, four-night cable miniseries. Tarantino said that breaking the story into four parts would be more satisfying to audiences than a four-hour movie: "... it wouldn't be an endurance test. It would be a miniseries. And people love those."[116]
Potential crossover sequel
Tarantino's first attempt at a Django Unchained sequel was with the unpublished paperback novel titled Django in White Hell. However, after Tarantino decided that the tone of the developing story did not fit with the character's morals, he began re-writing it as an original screenplay which later became the director's follow-up film, The Hateful Eight.[117]
In June 2019, Tarantino had picked Jerrod Carmichael to co-write a film adaptation based on the Django/Zorro crossover comic book series.[118] Tarantino and Jamie Foxx have both expressed interest in having Antonio Banderas reprise his role as Zorro from The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro in the film in addition to Foxx himself reprising his role as Django.[119]
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Django Unchained (18) . . December 17, 2012 . December 17, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121231151926/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/django-unchained-2013-0. December 31, 2012. live.
- Web site: Django Unchained (2012) . . July 5, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130825033725/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=djangounchained.htm. August 25, 2013. live.
- News: A dozen magnificent modern Westerns, from "Unforgiven" to "The Hateful Eight" (photos) . DeMarco . Laura . . September 22, 2016 . October 29, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191030023140/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2016/09/post_143.html. October 30, 2019. live.
- News: Child . Ben . Tarantino's Django Unchained script: The word is out . . September 16, 2012 . May 5, 2011 . London . https://web.archive.org/web/20130930072531/http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/may/05/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-script . September 30, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Lyttleton . Oliver . RZA Would Have Played His Character From 'The Man with the Iron Fists' In 'Django Unchained' . . October 22, 2012 . October 26, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121024210250/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rza-would-have-played-his-character-from-the-man-with-the-iron-fists-in-django-unchained-20121022 . October 24, 2012 . dead.
- News: Django Unchained trailer: will Tarantino be a slave to the dialogue? . June 7, 2012 . The Guardian . Child, Ben . August 12, 2012 . London . https://web.archive.org/web/20131217100016/http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jun/07/django-unchained-trailer-tarantino . December 17, 2013 . live.
- News: Quentin Tarantino: my inspiration for Django Unchained . December 30, 2012 . December 30, 2012 . Edwards . Gavin . . London. https://web.archive.org/web/20131217073558/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/30/quentin-tarantino-inspiration-django-unchained. December 17, 2013. live.
- News: Quentin Tarantino: Es macht mir unendliches Vergnügen, mit Christoph Waltz zu arbeiten . January 17, 2013 . April 7, 2022 . Suchsland . Rüdiger . Artechock.
- Web site: Cinemetrics: Quentin Tarantino's History Lesson: The hilarious but painfully dark truths of 'Django Unchained' . Zach Baron . Grantland.com . December 21, 2012. January 7, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20121230182129/http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8765553/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-slavery-spaghetti-western. December 30, 2012. live.
- News: In honor of "Django Unchained," a look at a dozen Spaghetti Westerns worth your time . Howery . Pack . . December 26, 2012 . January 9, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130105120309/http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/in-honor-of-django-unchained-a-look-at-a-dozen-spaghetti-westerns-worth-your-time.html/ . January 5, 2013.
- Web site: Sean . Dwyer . Will Smith Out, Jamie Foxx in for Django Unchained . June 22, 2011 . FilmJunk.com . February 2, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120626000842/http://www.filmjunk.com/2011/06/22/will-smith-out-jamie-foxx-in-for-django-unchained/ . June 26, 2012 . live.
- News: Eisenberg . Eric . Michael K. Williams Can't Do Django Unchained, Has A Role in Snitch with the Rock . December 25, 2012 . Cinema Blend . November 16, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20130103064435/http://www.cinemablend.com/new/michael-k-williams-can-t-do-django-unchained-has-role-snitch-with-rock-27933.html. January 3, 2013. live.
- News: Will Smith on why he rejected Django . 3 News NZ . March 26, 2013 . March 26, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131217032406/http://www.3news.co.nz/Will-Smith-explains-turning-down-Django-Unchained/tabid/418/articleID/291803/Default.aspx . December 17, 2013 . dead.
- Web site: Jagernauth . Kevin . Watch: Tyrese Gibson's 6-Minute Audition Tape For The Role Of Django In Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' . IndieWire The Playlist blog . April 13, 2014 . February 3, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140414000106/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-tyrese-gibsons-6-minute-audition-tape-for-the-role-of-django-in-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-20140203. April 14, 2014. dead.
- News: Quentin Tarantino wants Will Smith for lead in DJANGO UNCHAINED . https://web.archive.org/web/20110510001213/http://www.ifitsmovies.com/2011/05/quentin-tarantino-wants-will-smith-for-lead-in-django-unchained/ . May 10, 2011 . Laster . Ryan . May 6, 2011 . If It's Movies . February 2, 2012.
- News: Original 'Django' Franco Nero on His Iconic Character and the Film's Legacy (Q&A) . Lyman . Eric J. . The Hollywood Reporter . January 1, 2013 . January 30, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130108012556/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/original-django-franco-nero-his-407388. January 8, 2013. live.
- Web site: Franco Nero interview. 2021-02-22. THE FLASHBACK FILES. en-US. September 4, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210904214706/https://www.flashbackfiles.com/franco-nero-interview. live.
- Web site: Kevin Costner Joins Tarantino's "Unchained" . https://archive.today/20130102075415/http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/21224/kevin-costner-joins-tarantino-s-unchained . dead . January 2, 2013 . Franklin . Garth . July 18, 2011 . Dark Horizons . February 2, 2012.
- Web site: Kevin Costner Frees Himself From 'Django Unchained' . Enk . Brian . September 15, 2011 . NextMovie.com . February 2, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130129201715/http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/kevin-costner-django-unchained . January 29, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Kurt Russell to Replace Kevin Costner in Tarantino's Django Unchained . Yamato . Jen . September 30, 2011 . Movieline.com . February 2, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120103222050/http://www.movieline.com/2011/09/30/kurt-russell-to-replace-kevin-costner-in-tarantinos-django-unchained/ . January 3, 2012 . live.
- News: Ben . Child . Sacha Baron Cohen and Kurt Russell leave Django Unchained . The Guardian . June 12, 2012 . London . May 11, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131217081047/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/11/sacha-baron-cohen-django-unchained . December 17, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Walton Goggins Will Absorb Kurt Russell's Role in Django Unchained . CinemaBlend.com . Rich . Katey . May 10, 2012 . August 3, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120526171827/http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Walton-Goggins-Absorb-Kurt-Russell-Role-Django-Unchained-30872.html . May 26, 2012 . live.
- Web site: OSCARS Q&A: Sacha Baron Cohen . . The Deadline Team . December 27, 2012 . January 16, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121230230431/http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/oscars-qa-sacha-baron-cohen/. December 30, 2012. live.
- Web site: Jonah Hill was Offered a Part in Tarantino's Django Unchained, But... . Virtel . Louis . November 10, 2011 . Movieline.com . February 2, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120106190152/http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/10/jonah-hill-was-offered-a-part-in-tarantinos-django-unchained-but/ . January 6, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Jonah Hill Turned Down Quentin Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED . https://web.archive.org/web/20131103061602/http://whatculture.com/film/jonah-hill-turned-down-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained.php . dead . November 3, 2013 . Holmes . Matt . November 11, 2011 . What Culture! . Obsessed with Film LTD . February 2, 2012.
- Web site: Jonah Hill Joins Django Unchained . Collider.com . Goldberg . Matt . June 15, 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120618010938/http://collider.com/django-unchained-jonah-hill/173404 . June 18, 2012 . June 17, 2012.
- Web site: O'Connell . Sean . Joseph Gordon-Levitt Exits 'Django Unchained,' Opts To Direct His Own Film Instead . ScreenCrush.com . April 5, 2012 . April 5, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120413115736/http://screencrush.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-django-unchained/ . April 13, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Hanel . Marnie . January 4, 2013 . From Sketch to Still: The Spaghetti-Western Wit of Sharen Davis's Django Unchained Costumes . . January 8, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130303110206/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/01/django-unchained-costume-design-oscar-nomination . March 3, 2013 . live.
- Book: Universe, Filmic . Django Unchained - Ultimate Trivia Book: Trivia, Curious Facts And Behind The Scenes Secrets Of The Film Directed By Quentin Tarantino . 2024-03-10 . Filmic Universe . 978-1-304-61398-1 . es.
- News: Sandle, Tim . Django Unchained: new Tarantino movie begins shooting . DigitalJournal.com . January 27, 2012 . January 27, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120130022534/http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/318611 . January 30, 2012 . live.
- News: Tarantino wraps up Wyoming filming for new movie . The Washington Times . February 15, 2012 . Associated Press . February 7, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131224113020/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/15/tarantino-wraps-up-wyoming-filming-for-new-movie/ . December 24, 2013 . live.
- News: Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' begins filming at the Evergreen Plantation in Louisiana on Monday . Christine . February 25, 2012 . OnLocationsVacations.com . March 20, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318174615/http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2012/02/25/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-begins-filming-at-the-evergreen-plantation-in-louisiana-on-monday/ . March 18, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Oscar Chat: A Conversation With Best Cinematography Nominees Jeff Cronenweth and Robert Richardson . Nicoletti, Karen . February 24, 2012 . Movieline.com . April 11, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120417034146/http://movieline.com/2012/02/24/oscar-chat-a-conversation-with-best-cinematography-nominees-jeff-cronenweth-and-robert-richardson/ . April 17, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Fox . Jesse David . Zoe Bell Explains What Was Up With Her Masked Character From Django Unchained . Vulture . January 28, 2012 . January 28, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130131100849/http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/django-unchaineds-masked-character-explained.html. January 31, 2013. live.
- Web site: Thompson . Anne . Tarantino Officially Wraps 'Django Unchained,' Hits the Editing Room . IndieWire . December 1, 2012 . July 25, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120728233756/http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/tarantino-officially-wraps-django-unchained-hits-the-editing-room. July 28, 2012. dead.
- Web site: ‘Django Unchained’ was more than a role for Kerry Washington . www.latimes.com . 13 February 2022 .
- Web site: Chitwood . Adam . Quentin Tarantino May Have Found His Editor and Director of Photography for Django Unchained . Collider.com . September 15, 2012 . November 16, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130102173057/http://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-fred-raskin-django-unchained/127008 . January 2, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Appelo. Tim. 2012-12-20. 'Django' to the Extreme: How Panic Attacks and DiCaprio's Real Blood Made a Slavery Epic Better. 2021-06-02. The Hollywood Reporter. en-US. June 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210602162350/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-how-404160/. live.
- Web site: Why fans think Dicaprio wiped real blood on the face of Washington. 2021-07-25. The Things. April 17, 2021. July 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210728123423/https://www.thethings.com/leonardo-dicaprio-blood-kerry-washington-django-unchained/. live.
- Web site: 'Django Unchained' Soundtrack Details . Film Music Reporter . December 1, 2012 . November 28, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121202040305/http://filmmusicreporter.com/2012/11/28/django-unchained-soundtrack-details/. December 2, 2012. live.
- News: Quentin Tarantino discusses the music of 'Django Unchained'. Randy . Lewis . Los Angeles Times . December 25, 2012 . January 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20141230203047/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/25/entertainment/la-et-ms-quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-music-soundtrack-streaming-20121224. December 30, 2014. live.
- Web site: Quentin Tarantino reveals why Frank Ocean was scrapped from 'Django Unchained' soundtrack . NME . Talia . Soghomonian. December 1, 2012 . December 1, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121204233436/http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/quentin-tarantino-reveals-why-frank-ocean-was-scrapped/292564. December 4, 2012. live.
- News: Milian . Mark . Quentin Tarantino's method behind 'Inglourious Basterds' soundtrack mix-tape . . December 10, 2012 . August 22, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090826135405/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/08/inglourious-basterds-quentin-tarantino.html. August 26, 2009. live.
- Web site: Mayrand . Alain . Tarantino on Composers . . Getting the Score . December 10, 2012 . October 29, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20130123093914/http://gettingthescore.com/?p=307. January 23, 2013. live.
- Web site: Italian Composer Ennio Morricone: I'll Never Work With Tarantino Again . The Hollywood Reporter. Eric J.. Lyman . March 15, 2013 . January 1, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140214222722/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-composer-morricone-slams-tarantino-428954. February 14, 2014. live.
- 10.1080/17533171.2015.1057022 . Django Unchained: Repurposing Western film Music . Safundi . 16 . 3 . 280–290 . 2015 . Robbins . Hollis. 143313188 .
- Web site: Django Unchained Poster by Federico Mancosu . FedericoMancosu.com.
- Web site: 'Django Unchained' trailer to premiere tonight . Reynolds . Simon . June 6, 2012 . . June 6, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902155257/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a384901/django-unchained-trailer-premieres-online-watch.html . September 2, 2012 . live.
- Web site: First Trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained . Chitwood . Adam . June 6, 2012 . Collider.com . June 6, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121102202251/http://collider.com/django-unchained-trailer/163726 . November 2, 2012 . live.
- Breznican . Anthony . First Oscars: Academy hopefuls turn out at honorary Governors Awards . Entertainment Weekly . December 3, 2012 . December 2, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121204024600/http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/12/02/hopefuls-governors-awards/. December 4, 2012. live.
- News: Child . Ben . Django Unchained premiere cancelled after Connecticut shooting . The Guardian . December 26, 2012 . December 18, 2012 . London . https://web.archive.org/web/20131031225208/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/18/django-unchained-premiere-cancelled . October 31, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Rashid Irani's review: Django Unchained . . March 22, 2013 . April 11, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130927214307/http://in.news.yahoo.com/rashid-iranis-review-django-unchained-183000371.html . September 27, 2013 . live.
- News: 'Django Unchained' Set for China Release . The Hollywood Reporter . March 13, 2013 . Pamela . McClintock. April 26, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130415010600/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/django-unchained-set-china-release-428319. April 15, 2013. live.
- News: Why China is letting 'Django Unchained' slip through its censorship regime . . March 13, 2013 . April 21, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130514072402/http://qz.com/62717/why-china-is-letting-django-unchained-slip-through-its-censorship-regime/ . May 14, 2013 . live.
- Web site: 'Django Unchained' Has a (New) Release Date in China . BOXOFFICE Media, LLC . January 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20130809045542/http://www.boxoffice.com/china/2013-04-26-django-unchained-has-a-new-release-date-in-china. August 9, 2013. dead.
- Web site: Sampson . Michael . 'Django Unchained' DVD Release Date Announced . ScreenCrush.com. February 6, 2013 . February 13, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130209144727/http://screencrush.com/django-unchained-dvd-release-date/. February 9, 2013. live.
- Web site: Django Unchained – Video Sales . The Numbers . January 30, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150111194819/http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Django-Unchained#tab=video-sales. January 11, 2015. live.
- News: 'Django Unchained' Becomes Quentin Tarantino's Highest-Grossing Movie . January 30, 2015 . Deadline Hollywood . January 17, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20150224032945/http://deadline.com/2013/01/django-unchained-becomes-quentin-tarantinos-highest-grossing-movie-406598/. February 24, 2015. live.
- Web site: 'Django Unchained' vs. 'Les Miserables': Battle of Sexes at the Multiplexes . Cunningham . Todd . The Wrap News . December 24, 2012 . December 25, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121227141926/http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/django-vs-les-miserables-its-battle-sexes-multiplexes-70656 . December 27, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Christmas Report: Great Debuts for 'Les Mis,' 'Django' . Subers . Ray . December 26, 2012 . December 26, 2012 . Box Office Mojo . https://web.archive.org/web/20121231052508/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3593&p=.htm . December 31, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Weekend Report: 'Hobbit' Holds Off 'Django' on Final Weekend of 2012 . Box Office Mojo . December 31, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130102083302/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3597&p=.htm . January 2, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Django Unchained . . . March 11, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121230010720/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/django_unchained_2012/ . December 30, 2012 . live.
- Web site: Django Unchained . . December 31, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130102072136/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/django-unchained . January 2, 2013 . live.
- Web site: Find CinemaScore . Type "Django" in the search box . . February 1, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180102130540/https://www.cinemascore.com/. January 2, 2018. live.
- News: Faster, Quentin! Thrill! Thrill! . Ebert . Roger . Roger Ebert . Chicago Sun-Times . January 7, 2013 . January 10, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130111022127/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/01/django_unchained.html . January 11, 2013.
- News: Peter Bradshaw . Bradshaw . Peter . Django Unchained – first look review . The Guardian . December 12, 2012 . December 12, 2012 . London. https://web.archive.org/web/20131217074111/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/12/django-unchained-first-look-review. December 17, 2013. live.
- News: A. O. Scott . Scott . A. O. . The Black, The White and the Angry . The New York Times . December 25, 2012 . December 24, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130110175046/http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/movies/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-stars-jamie-foxx.html. January 10, 2013. live.
- News: 'Django Unchained' was more than a role for Kerry Washington . https://archive.today/20130408014454/http://www.decapost.com/entertainment/2012/12/31/django-unchained-was-more-than-a-role-for-kerry-washington_s_3821107.html . dead . April 8, 2013 . DecaPost.com . December 31, 2012.
- News: Django Unchained Review. Empire. 7 May 2012. 7 November 2023. Jolin. Dan.
- Gleiberman . Owen . Django Unchained . . December 31, 2012 . December 25, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130122152428/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20620087,00.html . January 22, 2013 . live.
- Web site: David . Fellerath . Django Unchained . Indy Week . December 31, 2012 . December 26, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130224205310/http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/django-unchained/Content?oid=3223359. February 24, 2013. live.
- 'Les Misérables,' 'Django Unchained,' and 'Amour' . . January 7, 2013 . Anthony Lane. January 22, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130124073646/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/01/07/130107crci_cinema_lane. January 24, 2013. live.
- Special Issue: Django Unchained and the Global Western . Safundi . August 24, 2015 . 16 . 3 . 253–333 . 10.1080/17533171.2015.1067417 . 142630597 . free .
- Phillips, Dana. "Introduction: Django Unchained and the Global Western". Safundi 16.3 (2015): 253–255.
- Web site: Film Critic Top 10 Lists – Best of 2012 . Metacritic . January 15, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180511074641/http://www.metacritic.com/feature/top-ten-lists-best-movies-of-2012 . May 11, 2018 . live.
- News: American Film Institute Announces AFI Awards 2012 Official Selections . https://web.archive.org/web/20121223071138/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044486/american-film-institute-announces.html . dead . December 23, 2012 . December 10, 2012 . . December 11, 2012.
- Web site: Golden Globes nominations 2013: Movies list in full . Reynolds . Simon . December 13, 2012 . . December 13, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151644/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a444847/golden-globes-nominations-2013-movies-list-in-full.html. October 6, 2014. live.
- News: Andrew Pulver . Quentin Tarantino wins best original screenplay Oscar for Django Unchained | Film . The Guardian . January 15, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181215124157/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/quentin-tarantino-oscar-screenplay-django-unchained . December 15, 2018 . live.
- Web site: Heller . Corinne . Golden Globe Awards: Christoph Waltz of 'Django Unchained' wins Supporting Actor – Drama . OnTheRedCarpet.com . January 13, 2013 . January 13, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130115020553/http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Golden-Globe-Awards:-Christoph-Waltz-of-Django-Unchained-wins-Supporting-Actor---Drama/8953231 . January 15, 2013 . dead.
- Web site: Oscars – The Nominees . The Academy Awards of Motion Pictures and the Arts . February 28, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130110203809/http://oscar.go.com/nominees . January 10, 2013.
- News: Oscars 2013: the full list of winners . The Guardian . London . February 25, 2013 . February 28, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131019105500/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/oscars-2013-full-list-winners . October 19, 2013 . live.
- Web site: The '44th NAACP Image Awards' nominees announced . December 11, 2012 . . December 12, 2012. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130319130412/http://www.naacpimageawards.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/44th-NIA-Nominations_Final_Release.pdf . March 19, 2013.
- Web site: Awards for 2012 . December 5, 2012 . . December 11, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100612165922/http://nbrmp.org/awards/ . June 12, 2010.
- News: "Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty," up for Producers Guild awards . Serjeant . Jill . January 2, 2013 . . January 4, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130129200308/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/02/uk-producersguild-idUKBRE9010QI20130102. January 29, 2013. live.
- Web site: Surviving 'Django' . . January 5, 2012. August 26, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170429111621/https://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/surviving-django-8opx. April 29, 2017. live.
- News: . Django Unchained: Film Review . December 11, 2012 . Todd . McCarthy . December 26, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121217162406/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/django-unchained/review/399663. December 17, 2012. live.
- Web site: Django Unchained and Race: Here's What Drudge Doesn't Tell You . The Village Voice . December 18, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121216005936/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/12/django_unchaine.php. December 16, 2012. dead.
- Web site: Spike Lee slams Django Unchained:'I'm not Gonna See It' . . December 24, 2012 . December 21, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121230180658/http://www.vibe.com/article/spike-lee-slams-django-unchained-im-not-gonna-see-it. December 30, 2012. live.
- News: Blumsom . Amy . Tarantino will never work with 'that son of a b____' Spike Lee again . November 24, 2015 . . November 19, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161111212859/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/hateful-eight/tarantino-will-never-work-with-spike-lee-again/. November 11, 2016. live.
- Web site: Django, in chains . Williams . Jesse . February 21, 2013 . . August 19, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160817083118/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/19/opinion/williams-django-still-chained/. August 17, 2016. live.
- Web site: Morris . Wesley . Tarantino blows up the spaghetti western in 'Django Unchained' . . December 25, 2012 . June 21, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170922144906/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2012/12/25/tarantino-blows-spaghetti-western-django-unchained/hcwJVvWEtMNrlUlatAF1dK/story.html . September 22, 2017 . live.
- News: Ryzik . Melena . Supporting Actor Category Is Thick With Hopefuls . . December 19, 2012 . February 7, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170508185013/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/movies/awardsseason/supporting-actor-category-is-thick-with-hopefuls.html . May 8, 2017 . live.
- Web site: Samuel L Jackson hits out at Kamau Bell over Django Unchained criticism . January 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20131109043912/http://www.3news.co.nz/Samuel-L-Jackson-hits-out-at-Kamau-Bell-over-Django-Unchained-criticism/tabid/418/articleID/314292/Default.aspx. November 9, 2013. dead.
- News: Kaplan . Erin Aubry . 'Django' an unsettling experience for many blacks . . December 28, 2012 . December 31, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121230233158/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-django-reax-2-20121228,0,1771716.story. December 30, 2012. live.
- Web site: Jamie Foxx Jokes About Killing 'All The White People' . Fox Nation . December 10, 2012. December 25, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130511174638/http://nation.foxnews.com/jamie-foxx/2012/12/10/jamie-foxx-jokes-about-killing-all-white-people. May 11, 2013. dead.
- Web site: KUHNER: Jamie Foxx and the rise of black bigotry . . December 13, 2012. December 25, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121225024900/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/13/jamie-foxx-and-the-rise-of-black-bigotry//. December 25, 2012. live.
- News: Samuel L Jackson cover story . April 4, 2018 . MATT POMROY. April 11, 2018 . en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20180411174638/https://mattpomroy.com/2018/04/04/samuel-l-jackson-cover-story/. April 11, 2018. live.
- News: Dershowitz . Jessica . "Django Unchained": Critics weigh in on Quentin Tarantino film . CBS News . December 26, 2012 . December 25, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121225154647/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57560737/django-unchained-critics-weigh-in-on-quentin-tarantino-film/ . December 25, 2012 . live.
- News: Battersby . Matilda . 'Give me a break' – Tarantino tires of defending ultra-violent films after Sandy Hook massacre . . December 17, 2012 . London . August 26, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150208083550/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/give-me-a-break--tarantino-tires-of-defending-ultraviolent-films-after-sandy-hook-massacre-8422467.html . February 8, 2015 . live.
- [Thomas Frank|Frank, Thomas]
- News: McNabb, Geoffrey . January 11, 2013 . Django Unchained and the 'new sadism' in cinema . The Independent. February 22, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130129082358/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/django-unchained-and-the-new-sadism-in-cinema-8446213.html. January 29, 2013. live.
- Web site: Serwer, Adam . January 7, 2013 . In Defense of Django . . January 17, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150116041728/http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/01/tarantino-django-unchained-western-racism-violence. January 16, 2015. live.
- Web site: Rodriguez . Rene . Tarantino talks 'Django Unchained' . . December 26, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130223005411/http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/21/3152097/tarantino-talks-django-unchained.html . February 23, 2013.
- Web site: Was There Really "Mandingo Fighting," Like in Django Unchained? . . December 24, 2012. December 26, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20160607072803/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/24/django_unchained_mandingo_fighting_were_any_slaves_really_forced_to_fight.html. June 7, 2016. live.
- Web site: 'Django' Unexplained: Was Mandingo Fighting a Real Thing? – NextMovie . NextMovie . January 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20141217015326/http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/is-mandingo-fighting-a-real-thing/. December 17, 2014. live.
- Daniel Bernardi, The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary ...- 2013 "For the purposes of breeding chattel, he must also buy a "Mandingo" buck, a male slave. In the film, a "Mandingo" represents the finest stock of slaves deemed most suitable for fighting and breeding."
- Cobb . Jelani . Tarantino Unchained . . January 2, 2013 . January 2, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130104163149/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/how-accurate-is-quentin-tarantinos-portrayal-of-slavery-in-django-unchained.html. January 4, 2013. live.
- Holslin . Peter . . Quentin Tarantino and Cast Reveal 'Django' Details at Comic-Con . July 14, 2012 . January 2, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130205065427/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/quentin-tarantino-and-cast-reveal-django-details-at-comic-con-20120714. February 5, 2013. live.
- Web site: Moore . Nolan . Screenprism . Q: Is "Django Unchained" historically accurate and does it matter? . July 7, 2015 . April 25, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170427003531/http://screenprism.com/insights/article/is-django-unchained-historically-accurate-and-does-it-matter. April 27, 2017. live.
- News: Tarantino's crusade to ennoble violence . . January 5, 2013 . February 28, 2013 . November 14, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201114145944/https://www.ft.com/content/fb2e5468-55b7-11e2-bdd2-00144feab49a . live .
- Brody . Richard . The Riddle of Tarantino . . December 28, 2012 . January 28, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151018100534/http://www.newyorker.com/the-front-row/the-riddle-of-tarantino . October 18, 2015 . live.
- Web site: Quentin Tarantino Slapped With $100 Million-Plus Copyright Lawsuit Over 'Django Unchained' . The Wrap . December 30, 2015 . January 6, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160106051959/http://www.thewrap.com/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-100-million-lawsuit-hateful-eight/ . January 6, 2016 . live.
- Quentin Tarantino sued for alleged Django Unchained copyright infringement . Entertainment Weekly . December 31, 2015 . January 1, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160103014501/http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/31/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-copyright-lawsuit . January 3, 2016 . live.
- Web site: COLVIN et al v. TARANTINO et al . Pacer Monitor. March 17, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170317233456/https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/10213341/COLVIN_et_al_v_TARANTINO_et_al. March 17, 2017. live.
- Web site: Dynamite® Django / Zorro #1 . January 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150115072349/http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513022349401011. January 15, 2015. live.
- Web site: Tarantino wants to make 'Django' TV mini-series . Alexander . Bryan . . May 24, 2014 . May 24, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140524033023/http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/05/23/quentin-tarantino/9483365/. May 24, 2014. live.
- Quentin Tarantino explains how Hateful Eight began as a Django novel . Staskiewicz . Keith . . US . December 11, 2015 . January 6, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160104100518/http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/11/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-django-novel . January 4, 2016 . live.
- Web site: Exclusive: Quentin Tarantino Working with Jerrod Carmichael on 'Django/Zorro' Movie . Jeff . Sneider . . June 3, 2019 . June 4, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190604051314/http://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-jerrod-carmichael-django-zorro-movie/#images. June 4, 2019. live.
- Web site: Comic-Con 2014: Quentin Tarantino on the Django-Zorro crossover . Emma-Lee . Moss . . July 28, 2014 . July 28, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140728102138/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/28/comic-con-quentin-tarantino-django-zorro-crossover. July 28, 2014. live.