Movie fans across the globe are always eagerly awaiting the next film from Reservoir Dogs writer/director Quentin Tarantino, so it was understandable that when he announced he was making his first ever western; the upcoming Django Unchained; movie fans and studio executives became increasingly excited, even more so when the suitably impressive cast announcements began to roll out, but now Django has lost one of its main stars; Kevin Costner.
While many people were looking forward to seeing the Prince of Thieves star playing a character that’s fully against type (he was scheduled to play Ace Woody; a sadistic man who trains male slaves to fight one another, has no qualms about beating or even killing those he deems unworthy, and oversees the use of female slaves as prostitutes), Costner has had to drop out because of “a combination of scheduling and personal reasons.”
Even though Costner was only marked down for a few scenes in the movie, the shoot would have taken up two months of his schedule, and clashed with his upcoming roles in both the upcoming Superman movie; Man of Steel (in which he plays Pa Kent; Superman’s adoptive Earth father); and the miniseries The Hatfields and McCoys, and so unfortunately he’s had to let Django go.
Django Unchained places Jamie Foxx (The Kingdom) in the titular role of the freed-slave who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds) to take on a sadistic ranch owner (Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception), his right-hand-man (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction), and trainer (the now vacant role), in order to rescue his wife Broomhilda (a role Tarantino is still testing for).
Django Unchained, a Sergio Leone-style Spaghetti Western, is due to begin shooting this November with an eye to releasing the movie on Christmas Day (December 25th) 2012 in the US. No UK release date has been confirmed as yet, though if it doesn’t end up being on Boxing Day 2012, Django will likely reach British shores in January 2013.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
