Jamie Foxx, the Oscar-winning actor best known for the film Django Unchained, has revealed that he once asked director Quentin Tarantino to change a major part of the 2012 movie. Foxx said he requested so because he wanted to protect his co-star Kerry Washington from a difficult scene.
Jamie Foxx said he wanted to protect Kerry Washington from an ‘outlandish’ scene in the movie
During an appearance on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, Foxx said the original script included a scene in which his character, Django, and Washington’s character, Broomhilda von Shaft, were both raped.
Foxx told host Keke Palmer, “If you read the script, Broomhilda and Django get raped.” He explained that he, Tarantino and Washington discussed the scene and wanted to protect her. “Why? Because movies are forever. Meaning that if there is some bombastic scene, you can’t take it out and it’s forever and you can clip it out of context,” Foxx said.
The 58-year-old actor said he also wanted to protect Washington’s image, even though her career-defining show Scandal had not yet premiered.
“I said, ‘Hey, she’s going to have this show and we want to protect her,’ and [Tarantino] was with it. So all of that sort of outlandish stuff left,” he recalled.
Foxx also told Palmer that he felt Washington’s character needed a bigger role in the story. He said he told Tarantino that “his woman” was not in the script enough. According to Foxx, Tarantino quickly agreed to make changes.
He also said some moments featuring Washington were added later and were not part of the original script. “He placed Kerry Washington to make sure it was the through line. So that Django was a guy going to get love in the worst circumstance,” Foxx said.
Foxx also praised Tarantino for being “accommodating” during the process.
Django Unchained follows an enslaved man who trains with a German bounty hunter as he tries to reunite with his wife. The movie drew controversy over its frequent use of the N-word and its graphic violence involving enslaved people. Despite the criticism, the film earned nearly $450 million worldwide and became Tarantino’s highest-grossing movie.
