RUMOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Idris Elba to Join Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’?

I wasn’t a huge fan of Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino‘s homage to the “buddy” war film, mostly because a majority of the film wasn’t actually about the Inglourious Basterds.  I wanted to see American soldiers kicking Nazi ass, and I got to see some French chick running a movie theater.  So I’m hoping that when Tarantino‘s next project Django Unchained, his homage to Spaghetti Westerns, will actually have, you know, Spaghetti Western gunfighting action.  So far though, I’m excited — Christopher Waltz (who Tarantino directed in Inglourious Basterds in a chilling performance that won an Oscar) is more-or-less a lock for the film to play a German bounty hunter.  But who will play Django, the escaped slave who Waltz‘s character trains to be a plantation owner-killing bounty hunter?  While initial rumors suggested Will Smith, I really can’t see the Fresh Prince pulling this off.

So the good news is that JoBlo.com is suggesting that Idris Elba (Thor) is up for the Django role after the actor had some curious tweets this afternoon.  I think that’s a phenomenal casting choice, particularly because Elba is much more physically imposing than Smith and I buy him more visually in the role.  The other equally intriguing bit of news is that none other than Leonardo DiCaprio is up for the villain role of Calvin Candle, who is the slave owner who has Django’s wife.  I can’t remember DiCaprio playing such a villainous role in recent memory, so I’d be happy to see him stretch his acting muscles as an evil Southern plantation owner.  Finally, Tarantino favorite Samuel L. Jackson is rumored for the role of Stephen, Candle’s head slave.  Man, that’s an incredible cast so far!

The unconfirmed reports of the rest of the cast, which began when Franco Nero announced that he would be making a western with Tarantino starring along with Keith Carradine and Treat Williams titled The Angel, The Bad and The Wise are still unconfirmed, although it’s safe to say that Tarantino has likely chucked that title, if he ever considered it in the first place.  Stacey Sher, who produced Pulp Fiction, will be re-teaming with Tarantino on Django Unchained.  It’s set to begin production this fall, and I’d imagine that although it is set in America, it will be mostly shot in Europe, like most classic Spaghetti Westerns.