Leonardo DiCaprio is in negotiations to play the lead villain in Quentin Tarantino‘s new movie, Django Unchained, reports Deadline.
The movie, a spaghetti Western, centres around a freed slave looking to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner. It is the role of the plantation owner, Calvin Candie, that DiCaprio is said to be seeking.
This is not the first time Tarantino and DiCaprio have been linked. Back in 2008 rumours abounded that Leo would join Brad Pitt for Inglourious Basterds.
He was said to have been in line for the role of The Jewhunter, played to Oscar-winning effect by Christoph Waltz. Waltz is also believed to have a prominent role in Django Unchained.
While DiCaprio has come a long way since being the poster boy of Titanic, the role of Calvin Candie is said to be even more monstrous than that of Inglourious Basterds‘ Col. Landa, and therefore may be quite an ask for audiences to accept.
It’s worth remembering, however, that for quite some time DiCaprio toyed with the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, eventually giving way to Christian Bale.
As for the main role of Django nothing has been confirmed, but Will Smith‘s name has featured prominently with Idris Elba, Jamie Foxx and, most surprisingly of all, Chris Tucker also mooted for the part.
Django Unchained will be Quentin Tarantino‘s eighth feature film.