Tag Archive: New Orleans

Django Unchained News Update: Walton Goggins, Sidney Poitier, John Legend & More

django unchained set

Last chance to reserve your tickets for Django Unchained’s release tomorrow. You get a free $2 Amazon MP3 credit when you order tickets through Fandango.

The Washington Post published an article about Walton Goggins and how he landed a role in Django Unchained. A great read for Goggins fans!

“I texted him and said: ‘Robert [Robert Rodriguez], this is not my thing, I don’t do this, but I’m asking: Please text QT! Please! Just send him one line. Just two words: Walton Goggins.’ He said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ and maybe an hour later, or the next day, he forwarded me Quentin’s response. It said, ‘Walton Goggins has been on my radar for a very long time.’ ”

Rolling Stone has an excellent article about how the Django Unchained soundtrack came to fruition. John Legend talks about how he wanted to write a song for Django Unchained as soon as he heard what the film was about. He then recorded the song (“Who Did That to You?“) and sent it to Quentin Tarantino on a cassette tape. What a great story!

“We heard from an inside source that [Tarantino] really likes listening to music on cassette in his car,” Legend said. “So we converted the digital material into a cassette and I wrote him a note and I said, ‘I wrote this song for your film, wanted to know if you would use it.’”

At last week’s premiere, the technophobic Tarantino told a packed house at the Ziegfeld in New York, he received the tape with two months left in the shoot. “If I had gotten a link or something to plug into my computer, I would have thrown that shit away, because I don’t know how to do that shit, but I got a cassette tape, and that I know how to play.” The director ended up deploying the song in one of the film’s most climatic scenes.

Quentin Tarantino recently discussed getting inspiration from Sidney Poitier to take Django Unchained as far as he did:

But the idea of shooting those scenes in Louisiana, where most of “Django” was filmed, with black actors being asked to portray slaves, unnerved the usually self-confident director.

The prospect made him so edgy that he considered shooting those scenes in the West Indies or even Brazil, just so he wouldn’t be reenacting slave-related atrocities upon the landscape where such events actually happened.

So Tarantino turned to actor-director Sidney Poitier, the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar, for advice.

“Sidney basically told me to man up,” Tarantino says. “He said, ‘Quentin, for whatever reason, you’ve been inspired to make this film. You can’t be afraid of your own movie. You must treat them like actors, not property. If you do that, you’ll be fine.’ ”

The Christian Film & Television Commission is calling for a NC-17 rating on Django Unchained. “This movie ends with two of the most violent scenes we’ve ever seen in more than 27 years of reviewing movies,” said founder and spokesman Dr. Ted Baehr. That just makes me want to see this movie even more!

Spike Lee says he’s not going to see Django Unchained because it would “be disrespectful to my ancestors.” He didn’t elaborate any further. You can watch the video of this here, but it’s literally 40 seconds of Spike Lee repeating the same “it would be disrespectful to my ancestors” line. The only reason worth going to this link is to read the top Youtube comment: “YOU GUYS KNOW GOD DAMN WELL HE IS GOING TO SEE THAT SHIT on NETFLIX and pretend he never saw it.”

Speaking of Hollywood lodumouths, comedian Katt Williams had to throw in his two cents about Django Unchained:

“F**k Jamie Foxx and the Django Unchained check he cashed,” he said.

“They offered me the script and I said, ‘Any ni**a that do this deserves to die. And the next thing I heard, Jamie Foxx was in makeup,” Williams also claimed.

It should go without saying that Kat Williams was not on the short list of actors Quentin Tarantino auditioned for the role of Django.

Django Unchained producer Reginald Hudlin gave an interview with The Root.

A behind-the-scenes video of the Django Unchained filming:

(Thanks, Renato, for the link!)

Well, this is it, folks. We’re less than 24 hours away. I’ll be posting an open thread on December 25th where you can post your thoughts about Django Unchained. Come on over and share your opinion after you’ve seen the film!

Pin It

Django Unchained Open Casting Call

Django Unchained Poster

Batherson Casting has announced an open casting call for Django Unchained. Here are the details copied directly from the website:

OPEN CASTING CALL

Seeking African-American Men, Women & Children 6-65 years of age

ALL POSITIONS ARE PAID!

FILMING IN ORLEANS & ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISHES – BEGINNING FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Wednesday February 15, 2012
3:30pm-7:00pm

Knights of Columbus

346 Fir St.
LaPlace, LA 70068

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE AND TRANSPORTATION IS A PLUS! NO VISIBLE TATTOOS, PIERCINGS, BRACES ON TEETH, HAIR BRAIDS, OR UNNATURAL HAIR OR HAIR COLORS/HIGHLIGHTS. SMALL CLOTHING SIZES A PLUS!

This is all the information I have regarding the New Orleans Django Unchained casting call. If you have any further questions, then direct them to Batherson Casting.

Found via On Location Vacations.

Pin It

Django Unchained Production Details

django unchained film production information

The fine folks at Film New Orleans.

I’ve received a lot of questions since I started this blog about how to get involved with the Django Unchained project. Let me state upfront that I’m just a blogger and am in no way connected with the Django Unchained cast, crew, or production company. I don’t have Quentin Tarantino’s contact information nor have I ever met the man. I am in no position to make phone calls or pull some strings to get you a job as an extra or as part of the crew.

With that said, here is some publicly available information about the upcoming Django Unchained film shoot that some people may find useful. Django Unchained will begin shooting in New Orleans on February 1st, 2012. Film New Orleans is organizing the shoot, and has far more answers regarding employment and contact information than I do. You can contact the people in charge of the Django Unchained crew through the following publicly-listed email addresses: djangoprodoffice@gmail.com and supercoolresumes@gmail.com. Please direct your questions to them and not me.

Keep in mind that movie extras are typically hired locally. I have received emails from as far away as Africa asking me how they can get a job as an extra in Django Unchained. I’m sorry to break it to you, but nobody is going to fly you halfway across the world for a non-speaking role as an extra. If you want to be an extra, then you need to be able to show up to casting calls in person and on your own dime.

Let’s assume that you’re in the New Orleans area and want to be a Django Unchained extra. What do you do then? Again, I strongly recommend visiting Film New Orleans website and reading their through extremely helpful guide to becoming an extra. Film New Orleans has several suggestions for finding employment, including joining casting websites, keeping an eye on the New Orleans Craig’s List job listings, and contacting film-related meetup groups. There are links to all of those things in the guide linked above.

Hopefully this information has been a help to people who stumbled in here looking for Django Unchained contact information. This is the most information I can offer about this particular matter, so please do not contact me with any further questions. I won’t be able to answer them.

(Image Credit)

Pin It