'Django Unchained': Jamie Foxx On Why Quentin Tarantino Questioned Hiring Him

Why Quentin Tarantino Questioned Hiring Jamie Foxx For 'Django'

"Django Unchained" stars Jamie Foxx as the revenge-seeking slave of the title, but it wasn't a fait accompli that the Oscar-winning actor would play the role. Director Quentin Tarantino had first wanted Will Smith to play the part, and actors like Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, Larenz Tate and Michael K. Williams were all connected to "Django Unchained" at one point or another. Foxx won out, but it wasn't always smooth sailing once he was hired.

"How do you go all the way back to allow the ghosts of slaves, or ancestors to speak to you? Quentin challenged me on that," Foxx says in a new behind-the-scenes video from "Django Unchained" that HuffPost Entertainment is happy to exclusively debut above. "First time we went to the rehearsal, I was like, 'Nah, I want to say it like this.' I was really putting me into the character. He pulled me to the side, and said, 'This is what I was worried about in grabbing someone like you. Can you actually play a slave?' It hit me, like, 'Wow, he's questioning me.' That made me work harder."

In the end, it all worked out just fine. As Tarantino says, "Jamie got what I was trying to do."

Starring Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins and Jonah Hill, "Django Unchained" is out in theaters now. Watch the new clip above.

Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman

'Django Unchained'

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