Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western[5] film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles. Set in the Old West and Antebellum South, it is a highly stylized, heavily revisionist tribute to spaghetti Westerns, in particular the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci (the star of which, Franco Nero, has a cameo appearance). 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.
The premiere of Django Unchained took place at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 11, 2012, and was theatrically released on December 25, 2012, in the United States, grossing over $426 million worldwide against its $100 million budget, becoming Tarantino's highest grossing movie to date. The film received acclaim from critics, mainly for Waltz's performance and Tarantino's direction and screenplay, though the film's usage of the word "nigger" and the film's graphic violence drew controversy. 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.
