Django Unchained

Django Unchained (/ˈdʒæŋɡoʊ/) is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Tarantino's A Band Apart and Columbia Pictures, it stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson; Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson also star in supporting roles. The film, set in the Antebellum South and Old West, is a highly stylized, revisionist tribute to spaghetti Westerns. Its title refers particularly to the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci (that film's star, Franco Nero, has a cameo appearance in Tarantino's). The story follows a slave who trains under a German bounty hunter with the ultimate goal of reuniting with his wife.

Development of Django Unchained began in 2007, when Tarantino was writing a book on Corbucci. By April 2011, Tarantino sent his final draft of the script to The Weinstein Company (TWC). Casting began in the summer of 2011, with Michael K. Williams and Will Smith being considered for the role of the title character before Foxx was cast. Principal photography took place from November 2011 to March 2012 in California, Wyoming, and Louisiana.

Django Unchained premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 11, 2012, and was theatrically released by The Weinstein Company on December 25, in the United States, with Sony Pictures Releasing handling international distribution. It was a commercial success, grossing $426 million worldwide against its budget of $100 million, becoming Tarantino's highest-grossing film to date.

The film received acclaim from critics, mainly for Waltz's & Dicaprio's performance and Tarantino's direction and screenplay. The film's extensive graphic violence and frequent use of racial slurs were controversial. The film received numerous awards and nominations, winning two out of five nominations at the 85th Academy Awards. Waltz won several awards for his performance, among them Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. For his screenplay, Tarantino won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA.