Tarantino Wanted Sacha Baron Cohen for a Scrapped ‘Django Unchained’ Role – Armessa Movie News

Quentin Tarantino has openly celebrated the notion that his films “steal” from every movie that came before, beginning with his feature directorial debut Reservoir Dogs which took heavy inspiration from City on Fire. In 2012, the writer-director made his first entry into the Spaghetti Western genre, even naming the film and its character after Sergio Corbucci‘s Django from 1966. This wasn’t stealing exactly, since the immediate success of Corbucci’s ’60s hit led to almost 40 other Spaghetti Westerns in the following years renaming their own movies to include the word “Django”, and capitalizing upon its success. Tarantino’s Django Unchained is by far the most different of the bunch, swapping out the quiet caucasian gunslinger for a liberated deep-south slave.

Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a new Django, freed from his shackles by bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) in order to assist him in identifying some high-paying bounties. Once done, Schultz learns of Django’s lost love Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who was sold to a plantation owned by the cruel Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), and feels obligated to help his new friend liberate the love of his life too. The film is filled with stars eager to work with the American auteur, with Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson, and even Corbucci’s original Django, Franco Nero, rounding out the cast. But which character was Sacha Baron Cohen attached to play before Tarantino opted to scrap the role entirely?

What Happens in the Deleted ‘Django Unchained’ Sequence?

Those who read Tarantino’s screenplay for Django Unchained may be surprised to find a 10-page character arc that completely deviates from what we saw in the final movie. When Django and Schultz venture to Greenville, Mississippi to find the records of Broomhilda’s sale, they discover a brief history of her recent ownership, which Tarantino writes as a 10-minute flashback sequence complete with voice-over narration that also never made it into the finished film. After a black title card, “Broomhilda,” we’re shown her auction where bids come from unsavory characters named “Ugly Man,” “Uglier Man,” “Uglier By Far Guy,” “Big Greasy Fat Guy,” and “Big Fat Greasy Beaver Pelt Covered Trapper.”

Broomhilda spots the lessest of these evils in the crowd, in the form of a 24-year-old “fat boy” named Scotty Harmony. She gives Scotty flirtatious looks and her plan works, with Scotty’s father successfully buying Broomhilda for his smitten son. We soon learn that Scotty is the dim-witted son of slave-owners Mike and Mary Louise Harmony. Broomhilda’s job upon being bought is to be Scotty’s pseudo-girlfriend, and her quality of life (all things considered) could be a lot worse until she and Scotty attend the Cleopatra Club. The club is owned by DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie who cheats Scotty into losing a poker game, winning Broomhilda in the process. Heartbroken, Scotty challenges Candie but ends up dead and the rest plays out as expected once Broomhilda is in Candie’s possession.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Jonah Hill Were Both Attached To Play Scotty Harmony

Originally, the role went to Jonah Hill who was still in his 20s at the time and was known for playing roles in Superbad and Knocked Up. However, his scheduling conflicts forced him to drop out, presumably to finish 21 Jump Street. The role was then offered to the 41-year-old Sacha Baron Cohen who took on the role despite being older, taller, and skinnier than the script detailed. It is reported that the character was re-imagined to fit the new actor, proving just how eager Tarantino was to work with the Borat star, but as the production drew closer, it became clear that Cohen’s obligations to attend press tours for The Dictator would force him to drop out too.

Eventually, Jonah Hill was able to return for a smaller cameo role as “Bag Head #2”, one of the white supremacists who try and fail to raid Django and Schultz’s camp. Hill’s role consisted of lines scripted for “Randy” and “Terry”, with Quentin Tarantino himself cameo-ing as “Robert”, another of the bag-wearing racists. Despite being denied the opportunity to work with Tarantino, Sacha Baron Cohen starred in three movies that year, including The Dictator, Les Misérables, and the third Madagascar movie in which he voiced King Julien. After two high-profile comedy actors were unable to bring Scotty Harmony to life, Tarantino decided to scrap the character altogether, and Django Unchained didn’t suffer much for it at the box office.

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Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, and Joseph Gordon Levitt All Missed Out On ‘Django Unchained’ Roles Too

Sacha Baron Cohen wasn’t the only actor to lose out on roles in Django Unchained though, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached to star during his busiest year in movies. At a time when Gordon-Levitt was starring in seemingly everything from The Dark Knight Rises to Lincoln and Looper, the in-demand actor spoke with Tarantino about joining Django too. “It was so cool to trust me to do this little part in his movie.” Gordon-Levitt also revealed that he opted out of Tarantino’s project to pursue his directorial debut, Don Jon. “I would have loved, loved to have done it. [Tarantino]’s one of my very favorite filmmakers, and he was really supportive of me directing and that meant the world to me.” It’s unclear which role Gordon-Levitt would have played.

The script also features a character named Ace Woody, who serves as Calvin Candie’s right-hand man. This role was originally set to be played by Western movie veteran Kevin Costner before he dropped out, likely work on another Western, the History Channel’s Hatfields & McCoys. Death Proof‘s Kurt Russell was then cast before dropping out too. Much like in the case of Scotty Harmony, after two actors were unable to take on the role, the director scrapped Ace Woody entirely. Walton Goggins was cast as Billy Crash who serves a similar purpose to Woody, and James Remar played another similar character named Ace Speck. Remar was working double-duty for Tarantino in taking on the role, having also been cast as Butch Pooch. This became somewhat of a trademark for Tarantino at that point, having cast Michael Parks in two different roles in Kill Bill.

Drop-outs and recasts were nothing new for Tarantino at the time of Django Unchained, with Adam Sandler and Simon Pegg being offered Inglourious Basterds roles that were eventually given to Eli Roth and Michael Fassbender respectively. Sandler was committed to Funny People at the time, with Pegg starring in The Adventures of Tintin instead. Even Tarantino’s most recent film was affected by similar issues, albeit due to deaths rather than prior engagements. James Marsden shot scenes as a young Burt Reynolds for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood but the scenes were cut. Burt Reynolds himself was attached to star in the film too, before his death. He was cast as George Spahn, a role then given to Bruce Dern who first worked with Tarantino on Django Unchained.