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EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell me that international on Quentin Tarantino’s new Spaghetti Western Django Unchained is going to Sony to co-finance production later this year and distribute sometime in 2012. This after the filmmakers met with every major studio except Warner Bros. Of course, The Weinstein Company is taking domestic. But the surprise is that Universal International didn’t have the inside track since it co-financed and took overseas on Tarantino’s last film, Inglourious Basterds, in a very successful pairing ($201M international for a global cume of $321M). Actually, Universal really wanted Quentin’s latest and tried to really step up. There was a big meeting this past Friday between Universal International and Quentin where the foreign guys went to extraordinary lengths to pull out all the stops. Employees wore T-shirts emblazoned with the languages of all the managing directors of the territories in town. And a bag of handmade scalps was presented to Tarantino — a reference to the ”100 Nazi scalps” from Inglourious Basterds to remind Quentin how well the studio did for that movie last time around. Instead, Django Unchained went to Sony because of its existing relationship with Will Smith, whom Quentin desperately wants to star in the film. “Having Will involved is the key. That’s what the filmmakers want, and they think the best chance of making it happen is at his home studio,” an insider tells me.
UPDATE: Right now, Will is still pondering his role as a slave in the script, which I just read and would be a very risky project for the actor, who’s known for carefully controlling his professional persona. Other top-flight casting will start immediately. The film is a take-off on the Sergio Leone/Eastwood “Man With No Name” films. According to the script, it’s not a Spaghetti Western remake or reboot but a brand new story with a similar character and similar stylized violence from those 1960s films. Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction producer Stacey Sher will produce with Pilar Savone and Harvey Weinstein. Getting the WME-repped Tarantino back behind the camera is another boost for the rebounding TWC.
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Script is great and not a secret, everyone has it.
How do I get my hands on that thing?!
There is no way that Smith will take this role. Not only is it purported to be extremely violent and of questionable morality (which does not sit well with The Fresh One), but Tarantino would have ultimate and total creative control of the project, and anyone who knows Will, knows that ain’t in the bag. Never happen…
Will Smith is staying on the chain, folks. No way this will ever happen.
And now QT is stuck with Sony. Lose, lose.
Just got it. Cheers.
Can tell you by the first page this ain’t happening with Smith.
Nobody puts baby in a chain gang.
Django is Tarantino’s biggest grosser – so win win. Eat your words.
how risky can this be for will smith?
he did Wild Wild West….
This would be an intersting combo. Really curious to see what the two can create.
Don’t do it Will. You don’t need to be playing a slave in a movie. JL, you and Stovitz better make sure he doesn’t do it.
Ya, sure, he should just keep making more Men In Black movies right???
The character is actually an free ex-slave. He is freed in the first scene of the film. He spends the rest of the movie getting revenge on every plantation owner or overseer he comes across. What could be more badass and empowering than that? This film will show the brutality of slavery in a way that has never been seen on the silver screen before. It has a very strong anti-slavery message.
Smith is a damn fool if he doesn’t take the part.
“Ya, sure, he should just keep making more Men In Black movies right”
“Smith is a damn fool if he doesn’t take the part”
Your post could have done without these two sentences.I assume you have half a brain which would make the asinine wisecrack about doing Men In Black movies unnecessary.As for Smith being a fool for not doing Django, that’s is even dumber than the assumption of Men In Black being the only films Smith will be doing in the future.Someone who can pick and choose from a stack of top tier script can never be a fool for passing on any of them.Smith pass on The Matrix of all films and that didn’t hurt his career in the slightest, so passing on Django Unchained will not hurt or change anything in Smith professional career.
another big movie for sonny next year.they are really giving warner bros,universal and disney a run for a 1st place at the box office…
Warner will have Superman, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit, pt. 1 next year. They will be hard to beat.
Super secret? The script is all over the web, just like each of his preceding scripts. I remember when KILL BILL went out, I remember when INGLORIOUS BASTERDS went out. They’re secret for like a day.
Does Big Willie say that word?
Will Smith and Quentin Tarantino will never happen.Smith’s rarely does anything that is rated more than PG-13 while Tarantino has never made a film that wasn’t a hard R.For this marriage to work, one of the two will have to give in a little.With that said, if this movie were to get made with Smith and Tarantino, it would make a truck load of money just from the people curious to see Will Smith spewing Tarantino’s style of dialogue.
How is this script “super secret” when everyone has it and is reading it? Like all of his scripts since Kill Bill, as soon as it was done, everyone had a copy.
Why is Tarantino so desperate for Smith? Smith is as boring as cookies and warm milk. Eddie Murphy should be in this.
Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, or even Don Cheadle would be better for this…
Elba would own it though. And become a star in the bargain.
definitely…..
Actually when I read it, this past weekend I kept bouncing bewtween Anthony Mackie and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Also think Idris Elba would do it justice as well. Did not have Will Smith in mind at all.
Super-secret? The script is all over the internet!
What are you pondering Will? Is the script as good as MIB III? I’m sure he doesn’t have the answer to that because they DIDN’T have a script when they began shooting that piece of garbage. I was on the Tarantino hate-bus myself before Inglorious Basterds, a movie I wanted to hate. But Tarantino made a masterpiece, and I have no doubt that this will be on par in terms of quality. Will has made hit after hit, but come on man, do a REAL movie. One that’s not about the paycheck….maybe Scientology has to tell him if it’s okay.
Why again would this be risky for Will?
You have to consider the kind of films Will Smith makes and the audience he plays to, as opposed to the ones Tarantino does and who goes to watch them. Clearly, there is some crossover at the adult end but it’s not such a large overlap. Smith is basically box office gold. If Django Unchained underperforms or flops it tarnishes Smith and gets him negative publicity. It’s not like the man has to prove himself or needs the money.
That’s ridiculous. He should branch out like Brad Pitt and take chances. INGLOURIOUS was a great role for Pitt to take, and he got a lot of praise for it too.
Smith should use his power and prestige exactly for a project like this and to work for a director like Tarantino. If it flops (which it won’t) or underperform, it won’t hurt Smith’s viability in any way. Look at SEVEN POUNDS – no one blames Smith – it was an awful script poorly directed.
I haven’t read DJANGO yet, but it’s a no brainer. If Tarantino wants you, you answer yes. He’s made careers, he is an actor’s director. This would be an amazing pairing.
It funny how you know what someone SHOULD do with their career.It’s even funnier how you think Tarantino is such a legendary director that if he want you in his film, you should just do it, even if you don’t like the materials.Man are you Tarantino fanboys brainwashed.
You really think Will Smith is going to jump if Tarantino barks? He’s sitting by the phone waiting for Quentin to call? Will Smith don’t need no career making!
I agree with you, it would be interesting to see Will Smith extending his range, showing what he can do, but there is also the possibility he is a fine actor within his chosen parameters precisely because he knows his audiences and markets. It is also possible he has no range beyond what he does, in which case kudos to him for knowing that.
Smith doesn’t need Tarantino and Tarantino might want Smith, but that doesn’t mean he will get him. If anything, Quentin needs Will because how many African American actors are there who can carry a film inside the US and also overseas? Eddie Murphy is another, but who comes next?
It’d be nice to see Will Smith actually NOT play it safe, for once. When directed well, he can be A REALLY GOOD ACTOR.
The script is amazing. Grabs the reader by the neck and forces his/her face against the terrible stain of American slavery in this country in a way we don’t like to talk about because “it’s not nice.”
Depending on its execution — Tarantino just may have a solid shot at his first BEST PICTURE win.
Was Basterds a risk for Brad Pitt? No.
And it’s not a secret. Everyone has it.
WHY!!!!WHY!!!WHY!!!
Will Smith is the McDonalds version of Hollywood actors. His movies fill you up for the moment, but you quickly forget about them once they’re over. His ego is too big to take direction from a director like QT.
it’s risky for Will because the script is the most intense, violent, nasty, and incendiary thing that you can imagine. the N-word is the least of the hair-raising shenanigans in it. it’s an X rating if filmed as written. that said, it’s the best thing i’ve read in a long time. twice as good as Inglourious, and three times as scary/mean. and historically more accurate/revealing.
Will would have to do what Denzel did in Glory, except more, and harder, AND hold the whole movie together. not an easy job.
Idris Elba should play Django!!!
The script is racist, specifically the treatment of female slaves.
you mean it reveals what american slaves lived through?
Could he get Ennio Morricone to score this? He’s been using a bunch of his old scores in his recent films. Part of what made Leone’s westerns so good was the music.
I wish that Will Smith would do more movies. When Men in Black III comes out next year, it will be his first major starring role in 4 years even though he has many projects in various stages of development:?
Untitled Lana and Andy Wachowski Project?
Wheeler Dealers?
Independence Day 3?
Uptown Saturday Night?
Joe?
Greenbacks?
It Takes a Thief?
Welcome to the Sticks?
Extra Protection?
Monster Hunter?
The Karate Kid 2?
One Thousand A.E.?
Time Share?
Harold and the Purple Crayon?
Untitled I Am Legend Prequel?
Untitled Dr. S. Allen Counter Project?
Angelology?
The Last Pharaoh?
Independence Day 2?
The Legend of Cain?
Flowers for Algernon?
Hancock 2?
Annie?
Monster Witness Relocation Program?
What Would Kenny Do??
Brushback?
The Billionaire’s Vinegar?
Newton’s Law?
I, Robot 2?
Sisters of Mercy?
Amulet?
The City That Sailed?
Bad Boys 3?
Cooked?
Overboard?
My Wife Hates Your Wife?
The Long Run?
The American Can?
Paper Wings
C’mon, Will!! If Brad Pitt can do “Basterds,” you can do “Django!” Don’t be Harrison Ford!!
So where is the script if it’s not secret?
I’d collect 100 nazi scalps for it.
Will has gotta take it. Remember Eddie Murphy’s line in Bowfinger? They always give the Oscar to those retarded slave roles!
Will hasn’t turned in a real performance in years. He’s the definition of homogenized Hollywood. No, he doesn’t NEED this film, but if he wants to try his hand at another serious role, there couldn’t be a better one to take a chance on.