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Topics: Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, Film and TV
Joe Yates
Topics: Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, Film and TV
If you've seen Django Unchained then you'll understand Leonardo DiCaprio's reasoning behind having stopped reading the script.
Quentin Tarantino is not afraid to write racist remarks into his movies, and while it's strictly for cinematic effects, it's difficult for the actors that have to say them aloud - and it's even led to allegations that Tarantino himself is racist.
Which is clearly not the case. In fact, Samuel L. Jackson has the best defense for the epic director who he's worked with on six separate occasions.
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That is that in every film Tarantino makes, he always gives Jackson the 'smartest character in the film, that has the most dignity and respect' - which would be 'impossible for a racist to do'.
I feel like that needed explaining first before we got into DiCaprio needing a pep talk from Jackson as he struggled to play the vile slave owner Calvin J. Candie in the 2012 movie Django Unchained, due to the use of racist language.
Jamie Foxx, who played the titular Django, revealed at one point Jackson stepped in to help out.
Speaking back in 2019, on QT8: The First Eight - a documentary about director Tarantino’s career - Foxx said: “Leonardo DiCaprio had a problem saying the word ‘n*****’.”
Foxx said DiCaprio told him: ”Pal, pal, it’s tough for me to say this.”
However, Jackson got involved, in a very typical style.
Foxx revealed: “I remember Samuel L Jackson going, ‘Get over here, motherf**ker, this is just another Tuesday motherf**ker. I don’t give a f**k about these motherf**kers, look at who I am, motherf**ker.’”
Foxx also gave the actor some advice telling DiCaprio that to get into the role he had to stop thinking of him as his friend.
He went on: “I said, Leo, we’re not friends, this is just another Thursday. This is your property. These aren’t humans. This is your property.’
“And, when Leo came in the next day, it was literally like… ‘What’s up Leo? What’s up fam?’ He didn’t speak.
“Quentin allowed us to really transport back to that time and it was really real.”
And the combination of advice really seemed to do the trick as DiCaprio was widely praised for his acting in the movie - even earning himself a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor.
DiCaprio has previously said he ‘hated’ Candie but spoke about how he was pushed to put in the best performance possible.
He said: “It was this incredibly interesting horrific character. I mean, there was absolutely nothing about this man I could identify with.
“I hated him and it was one of the most narcissistic, racist characters I’ve ever read in my entire life.
“One of the pivotal moments for me was this initial read through, I wondered if it needed to be this violent and this atrocious to other human beings and it was Sam and Jamie who said, ‘If you sugarcoat this people are going to resent the hell out of you. You got to push this guy to the outer extreme'."