5. Cast Michael Madsen
This isn't technically a "lesson" as much as it is a requirement. Michael Madsen, who has thus far appeared in QT's Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill movies, needs to find a way into this western. Madsen is one of the best Tarantino actors around, and he hasn't worked with the only director who seems willing to give the man some genuinely awesome roles since for a decade. Madsen, of course, is most famous for his role as the vicious psychopath Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, but he also brought a nice, understated tragedy to his character, Budd, in Kill Bill. Unfortunately, the Tarantino actor who looks most like he belongs in a western was oddly absent from Django Unchained. Tarantino always supposedly writes a role specifically for Madsen in every script, but these two don't always seem to end up making it happen. Still, picture him as the leader of a band of tough, no sh*t-giving bandits, or as a corrupt lawman, or even as our wronged protagonist, out on a journey of redemption or - knowing Tarantino - cold-blooded revenge. Fact is, there are no limits as to how Madsen could fit into this thing, so let's get him involved.