1. Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio was supposed to work with Tarantino on Inglourious Basterds; he was hand-picked by the director for the Hans Landa role that eventually went to Waltz, and on the strength of this performance, it appears that everything worked out for the best. DiCaprio has emerged in recent years as one of the best actors of his generation, evolving from the teen heartthrob roles he was best known as in the 1990s into an actor capable of extreme intensity, as evidenced in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Here, playing plantation owner Calvin Candie, DiCaprio gets to harness his most horrifying beast yet, a chillingly suave man who keeps his cool for most of the film before unleashing a ferocious temper. DiCaprio is clearly having a lot of fun playing the role, kitted out in an awesome suit with distinguished facial hair and smoking a giant cig like they used to in the good 'ol days. Tarantino writes DiCaprio some cracking dialogue, and the actor clearly relishes reading these lines, adding another notch of versatility to his already diverse CV. He doesn't appear until an hour in, but he's absolutely the best thing in it, and I sincerely hope he gets a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, if not a win (sorry, Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Django Unchained is in US cinemas Christmas Day and follows in the UK on January 18th, 2013.