Jamie Foxx as Quentin Tarantino's black slave who is freed, trained under the tutelage of Christoph Waltz's eccentric former dentist turned bounty hunter, and then becomes an all out Clint Eastwood style gunslinger out to save his bride who is enslaved by Leonardo DiCaprio's evil plantation owner in Django Unchained? Wow, what a prospect and it's solid casting if it comes off, there's just no other way to put it. When Foxx brings it, when he truly brings that deep-seeded intensity that shoots out of his all of a sudden impossibly big eyes, that natural charisma and his ability to in a moment become the most dangerous man in a room (watch his character turn in Collateral when his humble character comes out of his shell and even gives Javier Bardem the heebie-jeebies to see what I mean), he is quite simply the man. It's been tough for Foxx lately with very few truly challenging roles for black actors of his age, especially when Hollywood are free to stop artists like Paul Greengrass making Martin Luther King and Jimi Hendrix biopics and won't greenlight black superhero/action vehicles. He's recently spent more and more time focusing on his music career, doing comedic/light-hearted or paycheck roles in films like Law Abiding Citizen, Valentine's Day, Due Date and the forthcoming Horrible Bosses seemingly just for fun - but it's time for the Oscar winner to make a comeback. Something Tarantino has afforded many actors in his time. After Will Smith reportedly pussied out of taking the controversial title role in Tarantino's black slavery spaghetti western, Foxx was soon named among the three contenders for the role, challenging his peers Idris Elba (OWF's number 1 choice since we read the script) and the annoying Chris Tucker, the latter who we hope Tarantino was simply humouring with a meeting, them being close friends and all. Now Showbiz 411 (notoriously loose with fact checking and running thinly veiled gossip pieces, but damnit if they aren't correct some of the time) say Foxx is now front-runner to play Django after his recent meeting/audition. Their source on the story could be a solid one too. The site spent some time chatting with Samuel L. Jackson at the Tony awards on Sunday night who was long ago cast to play Stephen, the right hand man to the villainous slave driver Calvin Candie, a role that we are hearing Leonardo DiCaprio has nabbed. Jackson said to the site he was 'psyched' about the movie and probably rightfully so after starring in some of the crap he has done since Quentin last gave him a meaty role in 1997's Jackie Brown. However there's no confirmation in the article that he is the source for the scoop (he probably was though). Foxx would be damned fine casting and I would be very happy if it becomes a confirmed story. I think Tarantino is casting his movie perfectly, and although I can't help but think the script is overlong, repetitive, overly ambitious and uninteresting for 99.9% of movie-goers.... Spaghetti Westerns are one of my favourite genres and if Tarantino can make the Sergio Leone homage he has kinda half-assed making over recent years, then I think we could be in for something special next year. The Weinsteins will release the movie in 2012 (Sony overseas) and Django Unchained will shoot once Tarantino has his cast together. Hopefully, he will gun himself for another Cannes bow. (story via The Playlist)