Django Rocks San Diego Comic Con

Quentin Tarantino‘s latest cinema epic Django Unchained described as a “dark, bloody nightmarish tale of revenge” (but also as a love story), is currently being promoted at what is easily the geekiest annual event ever created: the San Diego Comic Con. This fan festival is a wonderland of displays and live panels for enthusiasts of comic books, movies and television. QT also happens to be a huge geek for super heroes, just watch any of his films and you’ll see a wide range of homages. From The Silver Surfer poster on Mr Orange‘s wall in Reservoir Dogs to Bill‘s Superman monologue in Kill Bill.

The Django Unchained marketing campaign at this year’s Con has got excited fans running around on a Django Bounty Hunt searching for clues which can earn them special prizes. There’s even special Django coins being handed out by the designated “Outlaws” that can be spotted sauntering around here and there. The coolest spectacle is a life size “Django Town”, which is patterned after the iconic Old West locales seen in many of those genre movies.

Yesterday some of the all-star cast of the film including Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz, Walton Goggins and Don Johnson,  were joined by Quentin for a live discussion about the anxiously awaited project. They delved deeper into many of the thoughts and views they had on the story (which deals with controversial aspects of racism) and even shed some light on the backgrounds of the characters revealing some very interesting geeky tidbits.

The Comic Con crowd also got an early Christmas present in the form of a special 8 minute showcase reel of footage from the film (same one that was played at Cannes), click here for a description of the footage! Here’s a little recap of what came out of ComiCon…. with links and more.

DJANGO UNCHAINED COMIC: After the Django panel, QT crashed the Before Watchmen showcase and let fans know he would be collaborating with DC Comics on a customized Django Unchained comic book that will tie into the movie. The comic will be based on the original, uncut script and will feature material left out of the final version of the film. (read more)

Sources: Ramas Screen, IGN Entertainment, Variety.

CAST INTERVIEWS

Cinemablend has a live blog of the panel (click here)

Cool Quotes/Trivia from the panel discussion:

QT: The reality of slavery was a perfect canvas to tell such a cinematic tale. It can’t be more outrageous than real life, it was fucked up.” Tarantino says of slave trade. “Hence making it perfect for a spaghetti western.”

Jamie Foxx: I saw Quentin putting together fantastic film with fantastic people, like going to the all star game each day

  • Quentin felt that Django had to be anonymous before he became a hero and Foxx completely agreed.
  • Foxx says that in his past being called the n-word gave him insight into Django’s character and he used that to his advantage (read more)
  • Quentin coached Jamie to become the slave and drop the celebrity (read article)
  • Quentin calls Waltz’s character Django’s Yoda
  • Waltz says that his character needs Django…”it’s no mere rescue of a slave, it’s a unique and fabulous relationship”
  • Waltz says his character Dr. King Schultz doesn’t care about other white men and their thoughts on slavery.
  • Tarantino says that Dr. King Schultz is as savvy with a gun as he is unsavvy with society’s racism.
  • Tarantino chose to make Schultz a dentist so that he can hide in plain sight
  • Waltz on his character and Django: “This is a unique and fabulous relationship that is forged in the course of fantastic adventures.”

QT: “I’ve always wanted to do a western, but I always figured it’d be in that surreal, Kabuki-style western ( spaghetti western). The initial idea came to him 13 years ago: in the pre-Civil War South, a former slave becomes a vengeance-seeking bounty hunter.

QT: One of the most fun, exciting things about making Django Unchained was getting to place the cliches of the spaghetti western (story, characters) in the antebellum South.

  • Jackson’s character Steven is a father figure to Calvin Candie
  • Tarantino says that slave and plantation owners were like kings on their own property.
  • Don Johnson calls his character the more lovable plantation owner. He got into his character Big Daddy by researching the historical context of the film and studied a lot of Foghorn Leghorn in order to get the voice of Big Daddy.
  • Kerry says that her character Broomhilda got her name from her German plantation owner. Waltz, among other people, helped her sing and speak German in the film. Waltz says that Washington sang a beautiful German lullaby which brought him to tears
  • Theres a character in film connected to the future Tarantinoverse
  • Washington says that the film scared the shit out of her.
  • Tarantino realized that his story paralleled that of the legend of Sigfried saving Broomhilda.
  • Jonah Hill is in a sequence with Don Johnson as a pre-KKK group called The Regulators. QT says it is one of the funniest things he has ever written (read more)
  • John Shaft is a descendant of Django and Broomhilda (her slavery last name is Von Shaft) Deadline article on that
  • Washington says that Tarantino doesn’t just write strength for the sake of strength, he writes full characters
  • Tarantino gave Kerry Washington films from the 30s and 40s that dealt with the Antebellum South including The Flame of New Orleans and The Spoilers.

Last but not least, PICTURES!

And here are some videos! Woohoo, I think that is it for now, we might add some more links! Also make sure you follow us on Facebook for more stuff that comes along!

By the way the shirt Quentin is wearing, with the baby Tarantino characters, is no longer available for sale. For everything about Spaghetti Westerns, visit The Spaghetti Western Database today!

Peter Roberts

Peter is the editor in chief at the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb) and staff writer at FuriousCinema.com, he is a long time cineast and lives in Massachusetts.

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6 Responses

  1. danish-cky-alliance says:

    Where can you see that “8 min footage” of Django Unchained online (have someone uploaded it yet) ?

  2. Sheikara says:

    I’ve already seen it!

  3. Sheikara says:

    You know, it’s that I actually love this person Quentin!

  4. Mike says:

    How the hell did you watch it 6 months ago? bootleggin’ beeatch!