‘Django Unchained’: Teaser trailer serves up revenge with style
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The teaser trailer for ‘Django Unchained’ has been released, offering a first glimpse of Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film about a freed slave-turned-bounty hunter (Jamie Foxx) trying to save his wife from a vicious plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).
True to Tarantino’s genre-bending tendencies, the film is styled as a sort of ‘spaghetti Southern,’ a revenge tale set in the Deep South but inspired by the westerns of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci (the latter directed 1966’s ‘Django’). From the looks of the teaser, the film promises heaps of violence, striking set pieces and snappy wordplay.
At one point Foxx, taking up the lead role Will Smith reportedly passed on, spouts a catchphrase that’s sure to blow up on Twitter: ‘The D is silent.’ He’s joined by ‘Inglourious Basterds’ star Christoph Waltz, who plays the German doctor responsible for buying Django’s freedom and mentoring him in his new line of work. (‘How do you like the bounty-hunting business?’ Django is asked at one point. ‘Kill white folks and they pay you for it? What’s not to like?’ he replies.)
As with ‘Basterds,’ ‘Django’ demonstrates that Tarantino isn’t afraid to play in the darker corners of history. Neither, it appears, is DiCaprio. His character, the villain Calvin Candie, is said to be a truly despicable one who gets a kick out of watching slaves fight to the death. Viewers who think of DiCaprio primarily as a heartthrob might be in for a surprise, but his talent could go a long way toward making a vile character compelling.
The film, which opens Christmas Day, also stars Kerry Washington, Don Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson.
See the teaser trailer below.
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— Oliver Gettell