Looks like Quentin Tarantino’s next project – spaghetti Western tribute Django Unchained – will feature some hefty cinematic talent, as Will Smith is top of the director’s list to star, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
While there’s no official offer on the table just yet, you’ve got to imagine Smith would jump at the chance to collaborate QT on what is quickly shaping up to be an exciting new project for the writer/director. It’ll likely come down to whether the two can make a deal given Smith’s usual pay quote.
If he does sign, he’ll play the central role of Django, a freed slave who heads out on a mission to reunite with his wife, who is still in servitude. He's accompanied by a German bounty hunter, who trains him up to take on an evil plantation owner.
Hhhm… Someone with experience of playing a German skilled in weaponry and tracking people down and who has worked with Tarantino before? Yes, we can pretty much assume QT wrote that role for Christoph Waltz.
And given their history, it’s perhaps not a surprise that Samuel L Jackson would also be on the director’s phone list, with the actor slotted in to likely play Stephen, a manipulative slave who works for the main villain, Calvin Candie. We're certain he'd jump at the chance, assuming Marvel lets him out of filming Nick Fury cameos for five minutes.
Tarantino is now meeting with various studios to decide who’ll handle the film outside the US. Universal got first dibs, since it distributed Inglourious Basterds, but the field is currently wide open.