Will Smith Eyes Lead in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained'

Will Smithis eying the titular role in Quentin Tarantino’s next film, a bold Western calledDjango Unchainedset during and almost entirely about slavery in the South.

If Smith accepts, he would play Django (pronounced“jango”), a freed slave who partners with a German bounty hunter to journey back to Mississippi to rescue his wife. The character is a hat-tip reference to the Spaghetti Western hero of the 1960s films starring Franco Nero, though there’s nearly no relation between the two outside of the genre.

Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for playing Col. Hans Landa in Tarantino’sInglourious Basterds, is on board as the sly German, Dr. King Schultz, though he and Taratino have publicly denied his involvement thus far.  Samuel L. Jacksonis reportedly“circling” a key role as well, according to theHollywood Reporter, which can only be Stephen, an Uncle Tom and the head slave on a plantation who squares off against Django.

Deadlineconfirms that the Weinstein Company has secured a deal with Sony Pictures to co-finance the film and distribute it internationally sometime in 2012.  Universal, who had the same arrangement forBasterds, was heavily in the mix, but apparently the deal was signed with Sony to lure Smith, whose production company Overbrook Entertainment is set up at the studio. But is it the right play for Will Smith?

Though he hasMen in Black IIIcoming out next year for Sony, Smith hasn’t been on screen since 2008’sSeven Pounds, an intentional grab for awards attention that flopped with critics and at the box office. But Will Smithcanact. We’ve seen him do it inPursuit of Happyness, certainly inAli, and even in the rare moments when“Big Willie Style” isn’t spouting charming one-liners in his more mainstream efforts. But this sort of role screams career transition.  Suddenly, Hollywood hero Will Smith isn’t concerned with playing it safe.

The countless people who have read the script by now will tell you Django is not a typical Western. There are quick-draw gunfights, saloons and Tarantino-style horseback chats, but they’re all deeply embedded in a dark, uncomfortable slog through one of the worst times in American history. Tarantino intends to uncover all the cruel, grotesque wounds of slavery, including and especially the abhorrent language.  Sure, there is some catharsis for Django and the audience, but the role immediately associates squeaky-clean Will Smith with the inevitable controversy, just as he’s trying to launch the careers of his children.

I would love for Smith to take a shot at this, but I won’t be surprised if he passes. There’s too much at stake. Perhaps this is an opportunity for other solid actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Ealy, or Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar on“The Wire”).

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