Rumor: Is Leonardo DiCaprio Interested In Quentin Tarantino’s "Django Unchained"?

Word is traveling around the Internet that the Inception star could play a slave owner in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds follow-up.

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Complex Original

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Now here's an Internet rumor that we can totally get behind: Hollywood insiders are specualting about the possibility of Leonardo DiCaprio playing a villainous slave owner in Quentin Tarantino's next movie, the Spaghetti Western-inspired Django Unchained.

Yesterday, Creative Screenwriting Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmithtweeted, "Casting Rumor: Leonardo DiCaprio WILL play Calvin Candie in Tarantino's Django Unchained! QT wanted him for I.B. & now has him!" As the story goes, Tarantino has wanted to work with DiCaprio for a few years now, reportedly even pursuing the Inception star to play the Hans Landa part in Inglourious Basterds.

We're not getting our hopes up too much, however. Dicaprio is about to start shooting The Great Gatsby, and he's also attached to a slew of other projects that could interfere with Django Unchained, a project that Tarantino hopes to make with the utmost quickness. But our fingers are crossed, nonetheless.

Also adding to the rumor mill is Idris Elba, who seems to have joined Will Smith as a contender for the titular role of the escaped slave who teams with a bounty hunter to search for his wife. A tweet from Elba, which was picked up via The Playlist this past weekend, dropped some hints that interestingly point toward Tarantino's flick:

"Having one of the biggest meetings of my professional life today...meeting a very controversial director for a very controversial part."

The subject matter for Django Unchained reportedly pulls no punches with regards to slavery and racial politics. So what does this all mean? Official casting announcements for Django Unchained should materialize sooner rather than later. Hopefully, we'll see Dicaprio and Elba's names yet again.

[Via Collider]

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