Friday
Apr272012
Three Notes On Two "Django" Photos
Friday, April 27, 2012 at 7:17PM As you may have heard-seen, two official images from Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained have hit the net. Let's discuss both.
We'll start with Leonardo DiCaprio as the villain Calvin Candie
- Between this and the Great Gatsby, Leo may well just accidentally stretch himself this year leaving the Dead Wives Club (Rev Rd, Shutter Island, Inception) behind. Although in the case of his evil slave owner, perhaps there will be still be ghosts of women whose deaths he is responsible for. I'm speaking metaphorically so if you've read the screenplay don't be all "there are no ghosts in this movie I've read the screenplay!" reaction. Please and thx.
- Calvin Candie. What a character name, huh?
- Why is he holding a hammer: Amateur carpentry? I expect its for sadistic reasons because when it comes to hammers and the movies they're never used for good. I think the last time I saw a benevolent hammer in a movie was Witness (1985)... anyone remember that awesome church/barn building scene? When I think of hammers in movies I invariably think of Annie Wilkes Oscar-Winning Hobbling Instructions (1990) or that sick sick sick and infamous sequence in Oldboy (2003)
And here are Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx as Dr King Schultz and the titular Django
- No offense to Mr. Foxx but I still wish it'd been Will Smith because I always like to see what Tarantino can pull from certain actors. You know the kind. We think we've already seen too much to be surprised only to be very surprised. With Tarantino I like to see what he gets from megastars or from people who've never got the challenging role they deserve and Jamie Foxx is in neither camp of actor.
- I hope this movie is as crammed withmemorable characters as Tarantino's others so you can end up loving the movie without necessarily having any of the three leads as your favorite performance. Cups overflowing is how we like it.
- Despite the instantly recognizable stylings of Reservoir Dogs, the instantly iconic riffs and theatrical splendors of Kill Bill, and the impeccable glorious Inglourious fashions, no Tarantino movie has ever been nominated for Best Costume Design. Ain't that a bitch? (Sharen Davis, who costumed The Help and Dreamgirls, does the honors this time in her first collaboration with QT)
Add your own notes. What 3 things do these first 2 photos say to you?
Reader Comments (17)
Finally, an Oscar for Leo (supporting - but an Oscar none=the=less)...
The best thing about the Leo photo is that he looks a little perplexed, like he has no idea what to do with whatever this thing is that he's holding.
Reading this I realised how incredible Leo and his movies are.
The Departed, Titanic, Inception, Shutter Island etc
His filmography is unbeatable.
This is really random and perhaps off topic BUT the first thing that jumped out at me is how much I look forward to Leo teaming up with Jamie as a way to judge them against each other even though (or maybe because) I felt that Jamie foiled Leo's most deserving Oscar bid. And, this is not an attempt to bring Oscar for this movie into the conversation (and even though I know when X actor loses an award to Y actor they don't vow to avoid them for the rest of their lives) but I still sort of find it so surprising and nice when they frontrunners in acting categories act with each other after the fact, it often makes for great pairs like Cate and Gwyn in The Talented Mr. Ripley (alas, they weren't together) or Renee and Nicole in Cold Mountain (yes, I liked Cold Mountain or Michael Caine and Jude Law in Sleuth and I'd imagine there are scores more because you can't really avoid every actor who's ever won an award over you, but I - like some movie fans, I'm sure - tend to remember these slights so when I see them together I'll weigh them against each other to see if they the right person won.
As I said, random and off topic - but you asked me what came to mind....and that's what came to mind.
Carry on.
I can only think of how excited I am to see a director who first and foremost values fun working with Leo, who has a tendency to take himself and his characters too seriously. hope he loosens up for this one. As for hammers, all I ever see when I see a movie hammer is the agonizing torture scenes from Pan's Labyrinth. Third thought: where the hell is Kerry Washington? If this is going to be a sausagefest, and judging by the admittedly awesome cast list, it looks likely, then I hope she gets the chance to kick ass and perform at the level that most Hollywood films don't allow her. Oh and one for the road...I hope the film doesn't suffer too much from the loss of the incredible Sally Menke. I worry that her instrumental effect on the textures and rhythms of his films will be impossible to replicate.
This is Quentin Tarantino's first film without the presence of Sally Menke, I really like watching movies where they both work together to make a movie that is extraordinary and entertaining, I miss Sally Menke
Who will be the editor this time Nat ?
first thought - is that Kerry behind Leo?
That's not her.
The idea of Tarantino doing a slavery movie has always made me uncomfortable. These photos go a long way in making more relaxed with this project. Leo's the lesser villain, albeit he's the main villain, but Kurt Russell is playing a completely hate-able SOB (since I haven't finished the script they maybe equally shits but Leo's character has charm). On the surface it seems like Leo will get The Iron Lady traction from this—lets finally give it to him, overdue, etc but Samuel L Jackson certainly has the Plummer/Spencer steamroll possibility.
Ugh, Nat, I still can't for the life of me see how the Rev Road, Inception, Shutter Island is in any way a "rut." Clearly, the characters and performances he gives in each film are very different. He had problems handling the extremely heavy exposition in Inception (tbf, he had most of it..."you should know this about Inception"...), but that had nothing to do with dead wives. Also, if you want to get technical, he plays a widower in Rev Road for all of...5 minutes. If Leo in Django happens to be widower, are you going to consider this a continuation of his "rut" (regardless of how it factors into his performance)?
First thing that came to my mind: Leonardo DiCaprio- double Oscar winner for Lead Actor (Gatsby) and Supporting Actor (Django) in the same year!
Double nominee is more like it I guess.
1. It just me or it looks as if Leo were channeling The Butcher of Gangs of New York with a hammer instead of a butcher knife.
2. I love the Minnie-bow of the girl in the back.
3. I love/hate Django's green jacket, mostly love, definitely a bold move.
I agree that Leo tends to take himself too seriously. He never looks like he's having any fun, ever.. and worse, he looks like he's working so hard. I'd love for him to make some silly comedy that doesn't feel like a "For Your Consideration..." bid.
He's not the only big-name that seems that way to me, but he's definitely the most prominent.
I remember the barn building scene in Witness! Maybe not for the event itself, but there was this joyous Amish guy that looked too familiar to ignore.
It was Viggo Mortensen making his film debut.
As to Leonardo DiCaprio as the villain Calvin Candie -
* Quentin Tarantino really does not care what conventional wisdom has to say about tobacco products featured in movies (does DiCaprio even smoke?)
* Quentin Tarantino has graduated from red-tinged fadeouts to red-toned set decoration and costumes to highlight the bad acts of his bad men.
* Leo DiCaprio holds a hammer with intent about as well as Jeremy Renner holds a bow.
As to Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx as Dr King Schultz and the titular Django -
* Jaime Foxx is doing all the heavy lifting with that saddle and he still looks more natural and comfortable in that shot than Christoph Waltz does.
* I look at that muddy "street" and know with an almost ecclesiastical certainty that within five minutes either before or after that shot that someone is getting tossed into that mud.
* A cinematic variation on the Fermi Paradox...it's the middle of the day when town commerce should be at a maximum, yet there are no other people in view or reflected in the window, no horses, no activity of any kind except the two people already mentioned. Where is everybody?
Sadly, the very first 3 things these 2 pictures said to me was: 1) Jamie Foxx has a nice package. 2) I hope that pretty woman behind Leo doesn't get a head full of hammer. 3) Wow, Sean Connery has had some amazing plastic surgery. He looks almost 30 years younger than I thought he was.
The first thing I thought of when you said "benevolent hammer" was Witness...and then I read the rest of the paragraph. Ha! I love that scene so hard.
As to the second photo, all I can think is how for me, Westerns are the height of sexy.