While Quentin Tarantino has spent the last few months filling out the supporting roles in his newest film, Django Unchained, with names like Kurt Russell, M.C. Gainey, Don Johnson, Gerald McRaney, Dennis Christopher, and possible Tom Savini and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one major part has gone un-cast: the part of Django's wife, Broomhilda. While a few months back there was a report that Tarantino was interested in Kerry Washington for the role, there hasn't been any substantial news on that front since. That is, until today.
Deadline reports that after more than four months, Tarantino has gotten his wish and has cast Washington in Django Unchained's lead female role. The casting process took so long because the director was thinking about filling the part with an unknown actress, but eventually decided to go with the established name. The film's plot revolves around an escaped slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who teams up with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from the evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Samuel L. Jackson is also in the movie as a house slave loyal to Candie. The movie is scheduled to start production later this year and is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2012.
Quentin Tarantino has always been known to write strong characters for women, so Broomhilda is one that I am quite curious in. From the logline it would seem that she basically plays the damsel in distress for the entire movie, but that's not exactly the filmmaker's style. It will be interesting to see what Washington and Tarantino can come up with together.
