'Django Unchained' First Look: Leonardo DiCaprio Heads South

Quentin Tarantino's Western also stars Christoph Waltz.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Leonardo DiCaprio in "Django Unchained"
Photo: Columbia Pictures/EW

For years, Quentin Tarantino has toyed with the Western, peppering homages to directors like Sergio Leone into "Kill Bill" and "Inglourious Basterds," but now the director is finally taking on the genre with "Django Unchained," albeit in his own twisted way.

Most of Tarantino's secrets have stayed on the set, but Thursday (April 26) Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official look at just how far west Tarantino is going in "Django Unchained."

What separates the film from your usual Western is that it's actually what Tarantino calls a "southern," taking place primarily in the pre-Civil War South. The first photos show off the unique style of the film and reveal what Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz will look like when "Django Unchained" opens in theaters on December 25.

The photo of Foxx and Waltz could be straight out of a traditional Western. Foxx, as title character Django, carries his saddle over his shoulder and wears a prototypical cowboy hat. His companion, Dr. King Schultz, played by Waltz, is a German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter, and his more sophisticated getup reflects that.

It isn't until we see DiCaprio's evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie, that we find the connection to the Deep South. In the photo, DiCaprio is dressed up like a fine Southern gentleman, but he poses menacingly with a hammer in his hand.

EW spoke with Foxx about working on the sure-to-be controversial film, which addresses slavery like never before.

"There's a beautiful way [Tarantino] found for the characters to talk to each other. It's mind-blowing. You've never heard it this way," Fox told the magazine. "You've seen movies deal with slavery — or Westerns that never dealt with slavery — do it the safe way. This way is like ... wow."

Check out everything we've got on "Django Unchained."

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