Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino reveals plot for Django Unchained

The plot expands on the story revealed in leaks from bloggers claiming to have read Tarantino's screenplay

Ben Child

guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 April 2012 13.47 BST


Tarantino’s Django Unchained began filming in California before shifting to Wyoming and Louisiana. Photograph: David Fisher / Rex Features

Spoiler alert: This news story reveals the details of the plot of Django Unchained.

Django Unchained
Production year: 2012
Directors: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kerry Washington, Kurt Russell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson

Quentin Tarantino has revealed the synopsis for his much discussed forthcoming film Django Unchained, billed as a western set in the deep south in the period just prior to the American civil war.

The plot rundown expands on the backstory revealed in numerous leaks from bloggers claiming to have read Tarantino's screenplay last year, most of whom gave a positive verdict. It confirms that the film will begin with German-born bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) freeing the title character and helping to train him in combat so that he can return to the plantation where his wife is incarcerated in the hope of liberating her.

The synopsis reads: "Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Academy award-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Academy award-winner Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.

"Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South's most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.

"Django and Schultz's search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy award-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of "Candyland," an infamous plantation where slaves are groomed by trainer Ace Woody (Kurt Russell) to battle each other for sport. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy award-nominee Samuel L Jackson), Candie's trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organisation closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival …"

Django Unchained began filming in California in January before shifting to Wyoming and Louisiana. The cast also features Don Johnson as another plantation owner, Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett, The Wire's Michael K Williams, Walton Goggins of the TV series Justified and rapper RZA. The film's title is a riff on the 1966 Sergio Corbucci spaghetti western Django, though it is not known how much of the storyline will be borrowed from its predecessor.

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