Django Unchained

In 1858 Texas, several male African American slaves are being 'driven' by the Speck Brothers, Ace and Dicky. Among the shackled slaves is Django, sold off and separated from his wife, Broomhilda. The Speck Brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German ex-dentist and bounty hunter from Düsseldorf. Schultz asks to buy one of the slaves, but while questioning Django about his knowledge of the Brittle Brothers, for whom Schultz is carrying a warrant, he irritates Ace who aims his shotgun at Schultz. Schultz quickly kills Ace and leaves Dicky at the mercy of the other newly freed slaves, who kill him. Since Django can identify the Brittle Brothers, Schultz offers Django his freedom in exchange for his help in tracking them down. After executing the Brittles, Django partners with Schultz through the winter and becomes his apprentice. Schultz discovers Django's natural ability with a gun. Schultz explains that, being the first person he has ever given freedom to, he feels responsible for Django and is driven to help him in his quest to rescue Broomhilda.

Django, now fully trained, collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill as a good luck charm. In Mississippi, Schultz uncovers the identity of Broomhilda's owner: Calvin Candie, the charming but brutal owner of the Candyland plantation, where slaves are forced to fight to the death in wrestling matches called "Mandingo fights." Schultz, expecting Candie will not sell Broomhilda if they ask for her directly, plots to feign interest in purchasing one of Candie's prized fighters, offer to purchase Broomhilda on the side for a reasonable sum, then take her and escape before the Mandingo deal is finalized. Schultz and Django meet Candie at his gentleman's club in Greenville and submit their offer. His greed tickled, Candie invites them to Candyland. After secretly briefing Broomhilda on the plan, Schultz claims to be charmed by the German-speaking Broomhilda and offers to buy her after arranging to buy a fighting slave.

During dinner, Candie's staunchly loyal house slave, Stephen, becomes suspicious. Deducing that Django and Broomhilda know each other and that the sale of the Mandingo fighter is just a misdirection, Stephen alerts and privately admonishes Candie on his greed. Candie is humiliated at being fooled by a black man, but he contains his anger long enough to theatrically display his knowledge of phrenology which he uses to justify white superiority and black inferiority. Candie's bodyguard suddenly bursts into the room with his shotgun trained on the two bounty hunters, and Candie furiously threatening to kill Broomhilda. He extorts Schultz for the complete bid amount, and taunts him by demanding a formal handshake to finalize the deal before he leaves. Schultz fatally shoots Candie with a concealed derringer and his henchman kills him in turn. Django grabs a revolver and, after a shootout, is forced to surrender when Broomhilda is taken hostage at gunpoint.

The next morning, Stephen tells Django that he will be sold to a mine where he will work for the rest of his life. En route to the mine, Django proves to his dim-witted Australian escorts that he is a bounty hunter by showing them the handbill from his first kill. He convinces them that there is a large bounty for outlaws who are hiding at Candyland, and promises that they would receive most of the money. The escorts release him and give him a pistol, and he kills them before stealing a horse and leaving for Candyland.

Django returns to the plantation and kills more of Candie's henchmen. He takes Broomhilda's freedom papers from Schultz's pocket and frees her from a nearby cabin. When Candie's mourners return from his burial, Django kills Candie's few remaining henchmen and his sister Lara, releases the two remaining house slaves, and kneecaps Stephen. Django ignites dynamite that he has planted throughout the mansion. He and Broomhilda watch from a distance as the mansion explodes, killing Stephen, before riding off together.

File:Django Unchained cast.jpg, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington, in Paris at the film's French premiere, January 2013.]]

{{Div col}}

• Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman
• Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz
• Leonardo DiCaprio as "Monsieur" Calvin J. Candie
• Kerry Washington as {{not a typo|Broomhilda}} "Hildi" von Shaft
• Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen
• Walton Goggins as Billy Crash
• Dennis Christopher as Leonide "Leo" Moguy
• James Remar as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
• David Steen as Mr. Stonecipher
• Dana Gourrier as Cora
• Nichole Galicia as Sheba
• Laura Cayouette as Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly
• Ato Essandoh as D'Artagnan
• Sammi Rotibi as Rodney
• Clay Donahue Fontenot as Luigi
• Escalante Lundy as Big Fred
• Miriam F. Glover as Betina
• Don Johnson as Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett
• Franco Nero as Amerigo Vessepi

{{Div col end}}

Other roles include: James Russo as Dicky Speck, brother of Ace Speck and erstwhile owner of Django; Tom Wopat, Omar J. Dorsey, and Don Stroud play U.S. Marshal Gill Tatum, Chicken Charlie, and as Sheriff Bill Sharp / Willard Peck respectively; Bruce Dern appears as Old Man Carrucan, the owner of the Carrucan Plantation; M. C. Gainey, Cooper Huckabee, and Doc Duhame portray brothers Big John Brittle, Roger "Lil Raj" Brittle, and Ellis Brittle respectively, overseers of both Carrucan and Big Daddy's plantations.

Jonah Hill plays Bag Head #2, a member of Bennett's masked white supremacist group. Additional roles include Lee Horsley as Sheriff Gus, Rex Linn as Tennessee Harry, Misty Upham as Minnie, and Danièle Watts as Coco. Russ Tamblyn and his daughter Amber appear as townspeople in Daugherty, Texas; their roles are respectively credited as "Son of a Gunfighter" and "Daughter of Son of a Gunfighter". Zoë Bell, Michael Bowen, Robert Carradine, Jake Garber, Ted Neeley, James Parks, and Tom Savini play Candyland trackers. Jacky Ido, who played Marcel in Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, makes an uncredited appearance as a slave. Michael Parks as Roy and John Jarratt as Floyd, alongside Tarantino himself in a cameo appearance as Frankie, play the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company employees. Tarantino also appears in the film as a masked Bag Head named Robert.{{cite web|last=McCormick|first=Colin|last2=Tyler|first2=Adrienne|title=Every Quentin Tarantino Cameo In His Own Movies (& Where To Spot Them)|url=https://screenrant.com/quentin-tarantino-movies-cameos-characters-when-where-explained/|work=Screen Rant|date=April 11, 2024|access-date=October 26, 2024}}

File:Quentin Tarantino Django 2.jpg

In 2007, Quentin Tarantino discussed an idea for a type of Spaghetti Western set in the United States' pre-Civil War Deep South. He called this type of film "a Southern", stating that he wanted:

{{blockquote|"...to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like Spaghetti Westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to."{{cite news |last=Hiscock |first=John |date=April 27, 2007 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3664742/Quentin-Tarantino-Im-proud-of-my-flop.html |title=Quentin Tarantino: I'm proud of my flop |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=April 16, 2012 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325164055/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3664742/Quentin-Tarantino-Im-proud-of-my-flop.html |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |url-status=live}}}}

Tarantino later explained the genesis of the idea: {{blockquote|I was writing a book about Sergio Corbucci when I came up with a way to tell the story. ... I was writing about how his movies have this evil Wild West, a horrible Wild West. It was surreal, it dealt a lot with fascism. So I'm writing this whole piece on this, and I'm thinking: 'I don't really know if Sergio was thinking [this] while he was doing this. But I know I'm thinking about it now. And I can do it!'{{thinsp}}{{cite magazine |url=http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/07/14/django-unchained-comic-con-panel-tarantino-talks-links-to-other-movies-don-johnson-talks-foghorn-leghorn/ |title='Django Unchained' Comic-Con panel: Tarantino talks links to other movies, Don Johnson talks Foghorn Leghorn |last=Franich |first=Darren |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=July 14, 2012 |access-date=January 8, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108163437/http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/07/14/django-unchained-comic-con-panel-tarantino-talks-links-to-other-movies-don-johnson-talks-foghorn-leghorn/|archive-date=November 8, 2012|url-status=dead}}}}

Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.{{cite news |last=Child |first=Ben |title=Tarantino's Django Unchained script: The word is out |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/may/05/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-script |work=The Guardian |access-date=September 16, 2012 |date=May 5, 2011 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930072531/http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/may/05/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-script |archive-date=September 30, 2013 |url-status=live}} In October 2012, frequent Tarantino collaborator RZA said that he and Tarantino had intended to cross over Django Unchained with RZA's Tarantino-presented martial-arts film The Man with the Iron Fists. The crossover would have seen a younger version of the blacksmith character from RZA's film appear as a slave in an auction. However, scheduling conflicts prevented RZA's participation.{{cite web |last=Lyttleton |first=Oliver |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rza-would-have-played-his-character-from-the-man-with-the-iron-fists-in-django-unchained-20121022 |title=RZA Would Have Played His Character From 'The Man with the Iron Fists' In 'Django Unchained' |work=IndieWIRE |date=October 22, 2012 |access-date=October 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024210250/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rza-would-have-played-his-character-from-the-man-with-the-iron-fists-in-django-unchained-20121022 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |url-status=dead}}

One inspiration for the film is Corbucci's 1966 Spaghetti Western Django, whose star Franco Nero has a cameo appearance in Django Unchained.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jun/07/django-unchained-trailer-tarantino? |date=June 7, 2012 |work=The Guardian |author=Child, Ben |title=Django Unchained trailer: will Tarantino be a slave to the dialogue? |access-date=August 12, 2012 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217100016/http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jun/07/django-unchained-trailer-tarantino |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=live}} Another inspiration is the 1975 film Mandingo, about a slave trained to fight other slaves. Tarantino included scenes in the snow as a homage to the 1968 film The Great Silence.{{cite news |title=Quentin Tarantino: my inspiration for Django Unchained |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/30/quentin-tarantino-inspiration-django-unchained |date=December 30, 2012 |access-date=December 30, 2012 |last=Edwards |first=Gavin |work=The Guardian |location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217073558/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/30/quentin-tarantino-inspiration-django-unchained|archive-date=December 17, 2013|url-status=live}} "Silenzio takes place in the snow. I liked the action in the snow so much, Django Unchained has a big snow section in the middle," Tarantino said in an interview. Tarantino credits the character and attitude of the German dentist turned bounty hunter King Schultz to the German Karl May Wild West films of the 1960s, namely their hero Old Shatterhand.{{cite news |title=Quentin Tarantino: Es macht mir unendliches Vergnügen, mit Christoph Waltz zu arbeiten |url=https://www.artechock.de/film/text/interview/t/tarantino_2013.html |date=January 17, 2013 |access-date=April 7, 2022 |last=Suchsland |first=Rüdiger |work=Artechock}}

The title Django Unchained alludes to the titles of the 1966 Corbucci film Django; Hercules Unchained, the American title for the 1959 Italian epic fantasy film Ercole e la regina di Lidia, about the mythical hero's escape from enslavement to a wicked master; and to Angel Unchained, the 1970 American biker film about a biker exacting revenge on a large group of rednecks.{{cite web |url=http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8765553/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-slavery-spaghetti-western |author=Zach Baron |title=Cinemetrics: Quentin Tarantino's History Lesson: The hilarious but painfully dark truths of 'Django Unchained' |website=Grantland.com |date=December 21, 2012|access-date=January 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230182129/http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8765553/quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-slavery-spaghetti-western|archive-date=December 30, 2012|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/in-honor-of-django-unchained-a-look-at-a-dozen-spaghetti-westerns-worth-your-time.html/ |title=In honor of "Django Unchained," a look at a dozen Spaghetti Westerns worth your time |first=Howery |last=Pack |work=Dallas Morning News |date=December 26, 2012 |access-date=January 9, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105120309/http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/in-honor-of-django-unchained-a-look-at-a-dozen-spaghetti-westerns-worth-your-time.html/ |archive-date=January 5, 2013}}

Among those considered for the title role of Django, Michael K. Williams and Will Smith were mentioned as possibilities, but in the end Jamie Foxx was cast in the role.{{cite web |first=Sean |last=Dwyer |url=http://www.filmjunk.com/2011/06/22/will-smith-out-jamie-foxx-in-for-django-unchained |title=Will Smith Out, Jamie Foxx in for Django Unchained |date=June 22, 2011 |website=FilmJunk.com |access-date=February 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626000842/http://www.filmjunk.com/2011/06/22/will-smith-out-jamie-foxx-in-for-django-unchained/ |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Eisenberg |first=Eric |title=Michael K. Williams Can't Do Django Unchained, Has A Role in Snitch with the Rock |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Michael-K-Williams-Can-t-Do-Django-Unchained-Has-Role-Snitch-With-Rock-27933.html |access-date=December 25, 2012 |newspaper=Cinema Blend |date=November 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103064435/http://www.cinemablend.com/new/michael-k-williams-can-t-do-django-unchained-has-role-snitch-with-rock-27933.html|archive-date=January 3, 2013|url-status=live}} Smith later said he turned down the role because it "wasn't the lead" and was "not for me," but stated he thought the movie was brilliant.{{cite news |url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Will-Smith-explains-turning-down-Django-Unchained/tabid/418/articleID/291803/Default.aspx |work=3 News NZ |title=Will Smith on why he rejected Django |date=March 26, 2013 |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217032406/http://www.3news.co.nz/Will-Smith-explains-turning-down-Django-Unchained/tabid/418/articleID/291803/Default.aspx |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=dead}} Tyrese Gibson sent in an audition tape as the character.{{cite web |last=Jagernauth |first=Kevin |title=Watch: Tyrese Gibson's 6-Minute Audition Tape For The Role Of Django In Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-tyrese-gibsons-6-minute-audition-tape-for-the-role-of-django-in-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-20140203 |website=IndieWire The Playlist blog |access-date=April 13, 2014 |date=February 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414000106/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-tyrese-gibsons-6-minute-audition-tape-for-the-role-of-django-in-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-20140203|archive-date=April 14, 2014|url-status=dead}} Franco Nero, the original Django from the 1966 Italian film, was rumored for the role of Calvin Candie,{{cite news |url=http://www.ifitsmovies.com/2011/05/quentin-tarantino-wants-will-smith-for-lead-in-django-unchained |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510001213/http://www.ifitsmovies.com/2011/05/quentin-tarantino-wants-will-smith-for-lead-in-django-unchained/ |archive-date=May 10, 2011 |title=Quentin Tarantino wants Will Smith for lead in DJANGO UNCHAINED |last=Laster |first=Ryan |date=May 6, 2011 |work=If It's Movies |access-date=February 2, 2012}} but instead was given a cameo appearance as a minor character. Nero suggested that he play a mysterious horseman who haunts Django in visions and is revealed in an ending flashback to be Django's father; Tarantino opted not to use the idea.{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/original-django-franco-nero-his-407388 |title=Original 'Django' Franco Nero on His Iconic Character and the Film's Legacy (Q&A) |last=Lyman |first=Eric J. |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=January 1, 2013 |access-date=January 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130108012556/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/original-django-franco-nero-his-407388|archive-date=January 8, 2013|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Franco Nero interview|url=https://www.flashbackfiles.com/franco-nero-interview|access-date=2021-02-22|website=THE FLASHBACK FILES|language=en-US|archive-date=September 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904214706/https://www.flashbackfiles.com/franco-nero-interview|url-status=live}} Kevin Costner was in negotiations to join as Ace Woody,{{cite web |url=http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/21224/kevin-costner-joins-tarantino-s-unchained |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102075415/http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/21224/kevin-costner-joins-tarantino-s-unchained |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |title=Kevin Costner Joins Tarantino's "Unchained" |last=Franklin |first=Garth |date=July 18, 2011 |work=Dark Horizons |access-date=February 2, 2012}} a Mandingo trainer and Candie's right-hand man, but Costner dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.{{cite web |url=http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/kevin-costner-django-unchained |title=Kevin Costner Frees Himself From 'Django Unchained' |last=Enk |first=Brian |date=September 15, 2011 |website=NextMovie.com |access-date=February 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129201715/http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/kevin-costner-django-unchained |archive-date=January 29, 2013 |url-status=live}} Kurt Russell was cast instead{{cite web |url=http://www.movieline.com/2011/09/30/kurt-russell-to-replace-kevin-costner-in-tarantinos-django-unchained |title=Kurt Russell to Replace Kevin Costner in Tarantino's Django Unchained |last=Yamato |first=Jen |date=September 30, 2011 |website=Movieline.com |access-date=February 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103222050/http://www.movieline.com/2011/09/30/kurt-russell-to-replace-kevin-costner-in-tarantinos-django-unchained/ |archive-date=January 3, 2012 |url-status=live}} but also later left the role.{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Child |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/11/sacha-baron-cohen-django-unchained |title=Sacha Baron Cohen and Kurt Russell leave Django Unchained |work=The Guardian |access-date=June 12, 2012 |location=London |date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217081047/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/11/sacha-baron-cohen-django-unchained |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=live}} When Kurt Russell dropped out, the role of Ace Woody was not recast; instead, the character was merged with Walton Goggins's character, Billy Crash.{{cite web |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Walton-Goggins-Absorb-Kurt-Russell-Role-Django-Unchained-30872.html |title=Walton Goggins Will Absorb Kurt Russell's Role in Django Unchained |website=CinemaBlend.com |last=Rich |first=Katey |date=May 10, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526171827/http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Walton-Goggins-Absorb-Kurt-Russell-Role-Django-Unchained-30872.html |archive-date=May 26, 2012 |url-status=live}}

Jonah Hill was offered the role of Scotty Harmony, a gambler who loses {{not a typo|Broomhilda}} to Candie in a poker game,{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2012/12/oscars-qa-sacha-baron-cohen-394445/ |title=OSCARS Q&A: Sacha Baron Cohen |website=Deadline Hollywood |author=The Deadline Team |date=December 27, 2012 |access-date=January 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230230431/http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/oscars-qa-sacha-baron-cohen/|archive-date=December 30, 2012|url-status=live}} but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with The Watch.{{cite web |url=http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/10/jonah-hill-was-offered-a-part-in-tarantinos-django-unchained-but |title=Jonah Hill was Offered a Part in Tarantino's Django Unchained, But... |last=Virtel |first=Louis |date=November 10, 2011 |website=Movieline.com |access-date=February 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106190152/http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/10/jonah-hill-was-offered-a-part-in-tarantinos-django-unchained-but/ |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://whatculture.com/film/jonah-hill-turned-down-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103061602/http://whatculture.com/film/jonah-hill-turned-down-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |title=Jonah Hill Turned Down Quentin Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED |last=Holmes |first=Matt |date=November 11, 2011 |work=What Culture! |publisher=Obsessed with Film LTD |access-date=February 2, 2012}} Sacha Baron Cohen was also offered the role, but declined in order to appear in Les Misérables. Neither Scotty nor the poker game appear in the final cut of the film. Hill later appeared in the film in a different role.{{cite web |url=https://collider.com/django-unchained-jonah-hill/173404 |title=Jonah Hill Joins Django Unchained |website=Collider.com |last=Goldberg |first=Matt |date=June 15, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618010938/http://collider.com/django-unchained-jonah-hill/173404 |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |access-date=June 17, 2012}} Joseph Gordon-Levitt said that he "would have loved, loved to have" been in the film but would be unable to appear because of a prior commitment to direct his first film, Don Jon.{{cite web |last=O'Connell |first=Sean |title=Joseph Gordon-Levitt Exits 'Django Unchained,' Opts To Direct His Own Film Instead |url=https://screencrush.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-django-unchained |website=ScreenCrush.com |date=April 5, 2012 |access-date=April 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413115736/http://screencrush.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-django-unchained/ |archive-date=April 13, 2012 |url-status=live}}

File:The Blue Boy.jpg's oil painting, The Blue Boy ({{circa|1770}}).]]

In a January 2013 interview with Vanity Fair, costume designer Sharen Davis said much of the film's wardrobe was inspired by spaghetti Westerns and other works of art. For Django's wardrobe, Davis and Tarantino watched the television series Bonanza and referred to it frequently. The pair even hired the hatmaker who designed the hat worn by the Bonanza character Little Joe, played by Michael Landon. Davis described Django's look as a "rock-n-roll take on the character". Django's sunglasses were inspired by Charles Bronson's character in The White Buffalo (1977). Davis used Thomas Gainsborough oil painting The Blue Boy ({{circa|1770}}) as a reference for Django's valet outfit.{{cite web |last=Hanel |first=Marnie |date=January 4, 2013 |title=From Sketch to Still: The Spaghetti-Western Wit of Sharen Davis's Django Unchained Costumes |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/01/django-unchained-costume-design-oscar-nomination |work=Vanity Fair |access-date=January 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303110206/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/01/django-unchained-costume-design-oscar-nomination |archive-date=March 3, 2013 |url-status=live}}

In the final scene, {{not a typo|Broomhilda}} wears a dress similar to that of Ida Galli's character in Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965). Davis said the idea of Calvin Candie's costume came partly from Rhett Butler, and that Don Johnson's signature Miami Vice look inspired Big Daddy's cream-colored linen suit in the film. King Schultz's faux chinchilla coat was inspired by Telly Savalas in Kojak. Davis also revealed that many of her costume ideas did not make the final cut of the film, leaving some unexplained characters such as Zoë Bell's tracker, who was intended to drop her bandana to reveal an absent jaw.{{Cite book |last=Universe |first=Filmic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBz3EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Django+unchained%22+%22+Sharen+Davis+%22+%22Miami+Vice%22&pg=PT30 |title=Django Unchained - Ultimate Trivia Book: Trivia, Curious Facts And Behind The Scenes Secrets Of The Film Directed By Quentin Tarantino |date=2024-03-10 |publisher=Filmic Universe |isbn=978-1-304-61398-1 |language=es}}

Principal photography for Django Unchained started in California in November 2011{{cite news |author=Sandle, Tim |url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/318611 |title=Django Unchained: new Tarantino movie begins shooting |website=DigitalJournal.com |date=January 27, 2012 |access-date=January 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130022534/http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/318611 |archive-date=January 30, 2012 |url-status=live}} continuing in Wyoming in February 2012{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/15/tarantino-wraps-up-wyoming-filming-for-new-movie/ |title=Tarantino wraps up Wyoming filming for new movie |newspaper=The Washington Times |date=February 15, 2012 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=February 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224113020/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/15/tarantino-wraps-up-wyoming-filming-for-new-movie/ |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |url-status=live}} and at the National Historic Landmark Evergreen Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans, in March 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2012/02/25/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-begins-filming-at-the-evergreen-plantation-in-louisiana-on-monday |title=Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' begins filming at the Evergreen Plantation in Louisiana on Monday |author=Christine |date=February 25, 2012 |website=OnLocationsVacations.com |access-date=March 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318174615/http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2012/02/25/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-begins-filming-at-the-evergreen-plantation-in-louisiana-on-monday/ |archive-date=March 18, 2012 |url-status=live}} The film was shot in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film.{{cite web |url=http://www.movieline.com/2012/02/24/oscar-chat-a-conversation-with-best-cinematography-nominees-jeff-cronenweth-and-robert-richardson |title=Oscar Chat: A Conversation With Best Cinematography Nominees Jeff Cronenweth and Robert Richardson |author=Nicoletti, Karen |date=February 24, 2012 |website=Movieline.com |access-date=April 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417034146/http://movieline.com/2012/02/24/oscar-chat-a-conversation-with-best-cinematography-nominees-jeff-cronenweth-and-robert-richardson/ |archive-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=live}} Although originally scripted, a sub-plot centering on Zoë Bell's masked tracker was cut, and remained unfilmed, due to time constraints.{{cite web |last=Fox |first=Jesse David |title=Zoe Bell Explains What Was Up With Her Masked Character From Django Unchained |url=https://www.vulture.com/2013/01/django-unchaineds-masked-character-explained.html |website=Vulture |access-date=January 28, 2012 |date=January 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131100849/http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/django-unchaineds-masked-character-explained.html|archive-date=January 31, 2013|url-status=live}} After 130 shooting days, the film wrapped up principal photography in July 2012.{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Anne |title=Tarantino Officially Wraps 'Django Unchained,' Hits the Editing Room |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/tarantino-officially-wraps-django-unchained-hits-the-editing-room |website=IndieWire |access-date=December 1, 2012 |date=July 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728233756/http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/tarantino-officially-wraps-django-unchained-hits-the-editing-room|archive-date=July 28, 2012|url-status=dead}} Kerry Washington sought to bring authenticity to her performance in several ways. The actor playing her overseer used a fake whip, but Washington insisted the lashings really hit her back. And to dramatize her punishment inside an underground, coffin-size metal container, she and Tarantino agreed she would spend time barely clothed in the "hot box" before the filming began so the feeling of confinement would be as realistic as possible.{{cite web |title='Django Unchained' was more than a role for Kerry Washington |work=www.latimes.com |date=December 31, 2012 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2012-dec-31-la-et-kerry-washington-django-unchained-20130101-story.html |access-date=13 February 2022 }}

Django Unchained was the first Tarantino film not edited by Sally Menke, who died in 2010. Editing duties were instead handled by Fred Raskin, who had worked as an assistant editor on Tarantino's Kill Bill.{{cite web |last=Chitwood |first=Adam |title=Quentin Tarantino May Have Found His Editor and Director of Photography for Django Unchained |url=https://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-fred-raskin-django-unchained/127008 |website=Collider.com |access-date=September 15, 2012 |date=November 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102173057/http://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-fred-raskin-django-unchained/127008 |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |url-status=live}} Raskin was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing but lost to William Goldenberg for his work on Argo.

During the scene when DiCaprio's character explains phrenology, DiCaprio cut his left hand upon striking the table and smashing a small glass. Despite his hand profusely bleeding, DiCaprio barely reacted and remained in character under the astonished eyes of his fellow actors. He is seen taking out pieces of broken glass from his hand during the scene. After Tarantino's cut, there was a standing ovation by the other actors to praise DiCaprio's performance despite the incident;{{Cite web|last=Appelo|first=Tim|date=2012-12-20|title='Django' to the Extreme: How Panic Attacks and DiCaprio's Real Blood Made a Slavery Epic Better|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-how-404160/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US|archive-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602162350/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-how-404160/|url-status=live}} Tarantino, therefore, decided to keep this sequence in the final cut. DiCaprio is seen with his left hand bandaged in the scene after when he is signing Broomhilda's papers. Contrary to popular belief, DiCaprio wiped fake blood on Washington's face in a separate take.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thethings.com/leonardo-dicaprio-blood-kerry-washington-django-unchained/|title=Why fans think Dicaprio wiped real blood on the face of Washington|access-date=2021-07-25|website=The Things|date=April 17, 2021|archive-date=July 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728123423/https://www.thethings.com/leonardo-dicaprio-blood-kerry-washington-django-unchained/|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Django Unchained (soundtrack)}}

The film features both original and existing music tracks. Tracks composed specifically for the film include "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross and produced by and featuring Jamie Foxx, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "Ancora Qui" by Ennio Morricone and Elisa, and "Freedom" by Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton.{{cite web |title='Django Unchained' Soundtrack Details |url=http://filmmusicreporter.com/2012/11/28/django-unchained-soundtrack-details/ |website=Film Music Reporter |access-date=December 1, 2012 |date=November 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202040305/http://filmmusicreporter.com/2012/11/28/django-unchained-soundtrack-details/|archive-date=December 2, 2012|url-status=live}} The theme, "Django", was also the theme song of the 1966 film.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-xpm-2012-dec-25-la-et-ms-quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-music-soundtrack-streaming-20121224-story.html |title=Quentin Tarantino discusses the music of 'Django Unchained'|first=Randy |last=Lewis |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 25, 2012 |access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230203047/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/25/entertainment/la-et-ms-quentin-tarantino-django-unchained-music-soundtrack-streaming-20121224|archive-date=December 30, 2014|url-status=live}}

Musician Frank Ocean wrote an original song for the film's soundtrack, but it was rejected by Tarantino, who explained that "Ocean wrote a fantastic ballad that was truly lovely and poetic in every way, but there just wasn't a scene for it."{{cite web |title=Quentin Tarantino reveals why Frank Ocean was scrapped from 'Django Unchained' soundtrack |url=https://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/quentin-tarantino-reveals-why-frank-ocean-was-scrapped/292564 |work=NME |first=Talia |last=Soghomonian|access-date=December 1, 2012 |date=December 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204233436/http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/quentin-tarantino-reveals-why-frank-ocean-was-scrapped/292564|archive-date=December 4, 2012|url-status=live}} Ocean later published the song, entitled "Wiseman", on his Tumblr blog. The film also features a few famous pieces of western classical music, including Beethoven's "Für Elise" and "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem. Tarantino has stated that he avoids using full scores of original music: "I just don't like the idea of giving that much power to anybody on one of my movies."{{cite news |last=Milian |first=Mark |title=Quentin Tarantino's method behind 'Inglourious Basterds' soundtrack mix-tape |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/08/inglourious-basterds-quentin-tarantino.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=December 10, 2012 |date=August 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826135405/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/08/inglourious-basterds-quentin-tarantino.html|archive-date=August 26, 2009|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Mayrand |first=Alain |title=Tarantino on Composers |url=http://gettingthescore.com/?p=307 |work=WordPress |publisher=Getting the Score |access-date=December 10, 2012 |date=October 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123093914/http://gettingthescore.com/?p=307|archive-date=January 23, 2013|url-status=live}} The film's soundtrack album was released on December 18, 2012.

Morricone made statements criticizing Tarantino's use of his music in Django Unchained and stated that he would "never work" with the director after this film,{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-composer-morricone-slams-tarantino-428954 |title=Italian Composer Ennio Morricone: I'll Never Work With Tarantino Again |work=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Eric J.|last=Lyman |date=March 15, 2013 |access-date=January 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214222722/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-composer-morricone-slams-tarantino-428954|archive-date=February 14, 2014|url-status=live}} but later agreed to compose an original film score for Tarantino's The Hateful Eight in 2015. In a scholarly essay on the film's music, Hollis Robbins notes that the vast majority of film music borrowings comes from films made between 1966 and 1974 and argues that the political and musical resonances of these allusions situate Django Unchained squarely in the Vietnam and Watergate era, during the rise and decline of Black Power cinema.{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/17533171.2015.1057022 |title=Django Unchained: Repurposing Western film Music |journal=Safundi |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=280–290 |year=2015 |last1=Robbins |first1=Hollis|s2cid=143313188 }} Jim Croce's hit "I Got a Name" was featured in the soundtrack.

The first teaser poster was inspired by a fan-art poster by Italian artist Federico Mancosu. His artwork was published in May 2011, a few days after the synopsis and the official title were released to the public. In August 2011, at Tarantino's request, the production companies bought the concept artwork from Mancosu to use for promotional purposes as well as on the crew passes and clothing for staff during filming.{{cite web |url=https://www.federicomancosu.com/#/django-unchained-poster-federico-mancosu/ |title=Django Unchained Poster by Federico Mancosu |website=FedericoMancosu.com}}

Django Unchained was released on December 25, 2012, in the United States by The Weinstein Company and released on January 18, 2013, by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a384901/django-unchained-trailer-to-premiere-tonight.html |title='Django Unchained' trailer to premiere tonight |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |date=June 6, 2012 |work=Digital Spy |access-date=June 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902155257/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a384901/django-unchained-trailer-premieres-online-watch.html |archive-date=September 2, 2012 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://collider.com/django-unchained-trailer/163726 |title=First Trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained |last=Chitwood |first=Adam |date=June 6, 2012 |website=Collider.com |access-date=June 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102202251/http://collider.com/django-unchained-trailer/163726 |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |url-status=live}} The film was screened for the first time at the Directors Guild of America on December 1, 2012, with additional screening events having been held for critics leading up to the film's wide release.{{cite magazine |last=Breznican |first=Anthony |title=First Oscars: Academy hopefuls turn out at honorary Governors Awards |url=http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/12/02/hopefuls-governors-awards/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=December 3, 2012 |date=December 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204024600/http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/12/02/hopefuls-governors-awards/|archive-date=December 4, 2012|url-status=live}} The premiere of Django Unchained was delayed by one week following the shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.{{cite news |last=Child |first=Ben |title=Django Unchained premiere cancelled after Connecticut shooting |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/18/django-unchained-premiere-cancelled |work=The Guardian |access-date=December 26, 2012 |date=December 18, 2012 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031225208/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/18/django-unchained-premiere-cancelled |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |url-status=live}}

The film was released on March 22, 2013, by Sony Pictures in India.{{cite web |title=Rashid Irani's review: Django Unchained |url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/rashid-iranis-review-django-unchained-183000371.html |website=Yahoo News |date=March 22, 2013 |access-date=April 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927214307/http://in.news.yahoo.com/rashid-iranis-review-django-unchained-183000371.html |archive-date=September 27, 2013 |url-status=live}} In March 2013, Django Unchained was announced to be the first Tarantino film approved for official distribution in China's strictly controlled film market.{{cite news |title='Django Unchained' Set for China Release |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/django-unchained-set-china-release-428319 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=March 13, 2013 |first=Pamela |last=McClintock|access-date=April 26, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415010600/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/django-unchained-set-china-release-428319|archive-date=April 15, 2013|url-status=live}} Lily Kuo, writing for Quartz, wrote that "the film depicts one of America's darker periods, when slavery was legal, which Chinese officials like to use to push back against criticism from the United States".{{cite news |title=Why China is letting 'Django Unchained' slip through its censorship regime |url=http://qz.com/62717/why-china-is-letting-django-unchained-slip-through-its-censorship-regime/ |work=Quartz |date=March 13, 2013 |access-date=April 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514072402/http://qz.com/62717/why-china-is-letting-django-unchained-slip-through-its-censorship-regime/ |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |url-status=live}} The film was released in China on May 12, 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.boxoffice.com/china/2013-04-26-django-unchained-has-a-new-release-date-in-china |title='Django Unchained' Has a (New) Release Date in China |publisher=BOXOFFICE Media, LLC |access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130809045542/http://www.boxoffice.com/china/2013-04-26-django-unchained-has-a-new-release-date-in-china|archive-date=August 9, 2013|url-status=dead}}

The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on April 16, 2013.{{cite web |last=Sampson |first=Michael |title='Django Unchained' DVD Release Date Announced |url=https://screencrush.com/django-unchained-dvd-release-date/ |website=ScreenCrush.com|date=February 6, 2013 |access-date=February 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209144727/http://screencrush.com/django-unchained-dvd-release-date/|archive-date=February 9, 2013|url-status=live}} In the United States, the film has grossed $31,939,733 from DVD sales and $30,286,838 from Blu-ray sales, making a total of $62,226,571.{{cite web |title=Django Unchained – Video Sales |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Django-Unchained#tab=video-sales |publisher=The Numbers |access-date=January 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111194819/http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Django-Unchained#tab=video-sales|archive-date=January 11, 2015|url-status=live}}

Django Unchained grossed $162.8 million in the United States and Canada and $263.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $426 million, against a production budget of $100 million. {{as of|2013}}, Django Unchained is Tarantino's highest-grossing film, surpassing his previous film, Inglourious Basterds (2009), which grossed $321.4 million worldwide.{{cite news |title='Django Unchained' Becomes Quentin Tarantino's Highest-Grossing Movie |url=https://deadline.com/2013/01/django-unchained-becomes-quentin-tarantinos-highest-grossing-movie-406598/ |access-date=January 30, 2015 |website=Deadline Hollywood |date=January 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224032945/http://deadline.com/2013/01/django-unchained-becomes-quentin-tarantinos-highest-grossing-movie-406598/|archive-date=February 24, 2015|url-status=dead}}

In North America, the film made $15 million on Christmas Day, finishing second behind fellow opener Les Misérables.{{cite web |url=https://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/django-vs-les-miserables-its-battle-sexes-multiplexes-70656 |title='Django Unchained' vs. 'Les Miserables': Battle of Sexes at the Multiplexes |last=Cunningham |first=Todd |work=The Wrap News |date=December 24, 2012 |access-date=December 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227141926/http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/django-vs-les-miserables-its-battle-sexes-multiplexes-70656 |archive-date=December 27, 2012 |url-status=live}} It was the third-biggest opening day figure for a film on Christmas, following Sherlock Holmes ($24.6 million) and Les Misérables ($18.1 million).{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3593&p=.htm |title=Christmas Report: Great Debuts for 'Les Mis,' 'Django' |last=Subers |first=Ray |date=December 26, 2012 |access-date=December 26, 2012 |work=Box Office Mojo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231052508/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3593&p=.htm |archive-date=December 31, 2012 |url-status=live}} It went on to make $30.1 million in its opening weekend (a six-day total of $63.4 million), finishing second behind holdover The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3597&p=.htm |title=Weekend Report: 'Hobbit' Holds Off 'Django' on Final Weekend of 2012 |work=Box Office Mojo |access-date=December 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102083302/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3597&p=.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 296 reviews, and an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bold, bloody, and stylistically daring, Django Unchained is another incendiary masterpiece from Quentin Tarantino."{{cite web |title=Django Unchained |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/django_unchained_2012/ |work=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango |access-date=March 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230010720/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/django_unchained_2012/ |archive-date=December 30, 2012 |url-status=live}} Metacritic, which assigns a rating to reviews, gives the film a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".{{cite web |title=Django Unchained |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/django-unchained |website=Metacritic |access-date=December 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102072136/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/django-unchained |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |url-status=live}} Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.{{cite web |url=https://www.cinemascore.com |title=Find CinemaScore |format=Type "Django" in the search box |publisher=CinemaScore |access-date=February 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102130540/https://www.cinemascore.com/|archive-date=January 2, 2018|url-status=live}}

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and said: "The film offers one sensational sequence after another, all set around these two intriguing characters who seem opposites but share pragmatic, financial and personal issues." Ebert also added, "had I not been prevented from seeing it sooner because of an injury, this would have been on my year's best films list."{{cite news |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/01/django_unchained.html |title=Faster, Quentin! Thrill! Thrill! |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=January 7, 2013 |access-date=January 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111022127/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/01/django_unchained.html |archive-date=January 11, 2013}} Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, awarded the film five stars, writing: "I can only say Django delivers, wholesale, that particular narcotic and delirious pleasure that Tarantino still knows how to confect in the cinema, something to do with the manipulation of surfaces. It's as unwholesome, deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette."{{cite news |author-link=Peter Bradshaw |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |title=Django Unchained – first look review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/12/django-unchained-first-look-review |work=The Guardian |access-date=December 12, 2012 |date=December 12, 2012 |location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217074111/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/12/django-unchained-first-look-review|archive-date=December 17, 2013|url-status=live}}

Writing in The New York Times, critic A. O. Scott compared Django to Tarantino's earlier Inglourious Basterds: "Like Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained is crazily entertaining, brazenly irresponsible and also ethically serious in a way that is entirely consistent with its playfulness." Designating the film a Times "critics" pick, Scott said Django is "a troubling and important movie about slavery and racism."{{cite news |author-link=A. O. Scott |last=Scott |first=A. O. |title=The Black, The White and the Angry |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/movies/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-stars-jamie-foxx.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=December 25, 2012 |date=December 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110175046/http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/movies/quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained-stars-jamie-foxx.html|archive-date=January 10, 2013|url-status=live}} Filmmaker Michael Moore praised Django, tweeting that the movie "is one of the best film satires ever."{{cite news |url=http://www.decapost.com/entertainment/2012/12/31/django-unchained-was-more-than-a-role-for-kerry-washington_s_3821107.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130408014454/http://www.decapost.com/entertainment/2012/12/31/django-unchained-was-more-than-a-role-for-kerry-washington_s_3821107.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 8, 2013 |title='Django Unchained' was more than a role for Kerry Washington |website=DecaPost.com |date=December 31, 2012}} Dan Jolin of Empire magazine praised DiCaprio's performance, saying he "plays [the role of Candie] to hateful perfection: a spiteful, brown-toothed bully, avaricious, vain and prone to flattery", but criticized Foxx as a comparatively weak link whose "soft, musical voice [...] jars against Django's terse deliveries".{{cite news|title=Django Unchained Review|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/django-unchained-review/|newspaper=Empire|date=7 May 2012|access-date=7 November 2023|last1=Jolin|first1=Dan}}

To the contrary, Owen Gleiberman, film critic for the Entertainment Weekly, wrote: "Django isn't nearly the film that Inglourious was. It's less clever, and it doesn't have enough major characters – or enough of Tarantino's trademark structural ingenuity – to earn its two-hour-and-45-minute running time."{{cite magazine |last=Gleiberman |first=Owen |title=Django Unchained |url=https://ew.com/article/2013/01/08/django-unchained-review/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=December 31, 2012 |date=December 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122152428/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20620087,00.html |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |url-status=live}} In his review for the Indy Week, David Fellerath wrote: "Django Unchained shows signs that Tarantino did little research beyond repeated viewings of Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti Western Django and a blaxploitation from 1975 called Boss Nigger, written by and starring Fred Williamson."{{cite web |first=David |last=Fellerath |title=Django Unchained |url=http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/django-unchained/Content?oid=3223359 |work=Indy Week |access-date=December 31, 2012 |date=December 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224205310/http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/django-unchained/Content?oid=3223359|archive-date=February 24, 2013|url-status=live}} New Yorker{{'}}s Anthony Lane was "disturbed by their [Tarantino's fans'] yelps of triumphant laughter, at the screening I attended, as a white woman was blown away by Django's guns."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/01/07/130107crci_cinema_lane |title='Les Misérables,' 'Django Unchained,' and 'Amour' |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 7, 2013 |author=Anthony Lane|access-date=January 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124073646/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/01/07/130107crci_cinema_lane|archive-date=January 24, 2013|url-status=live}}

An entire issue of the academic journal Safundi was devoted to Django Unchained in "Django Unchained and the Global Western," featuring scholars who contextualize Tarantino's film as a classic "Western".{{cite journal |title=Special Issue: Django Unchained and the Global Western |journal=Safundi |date=August 24, 2015 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=253–333 |doi=10.1080/17533171.2015.1067417 |s2cid=142630597 |doi-access=free }} Dana Phillips writes: "Tarantino's film is immensely entertaining, not despite but because it is so very audacious—even, at times, downright lurid, thanks to its treatment of slavery, race relations, and that staple of the Western, violence. No doubt these are matters that another director would have handled more delicately, and with less stylistic excess, than Tarantino, who has never been bashful. Another director also would have been less willing to proclaim his film the first in a new genre, the 'Southern'."Phillips, Dana. "Introduction: Django Unchained and the Global Western". Safundi 16.3 (2015): 253–255.

Django Unchained was listed on many critics' top ten lists of 2012.{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/feature/top-ten-lists-best-movies-of-2012 |title=Film Critic Top 10 Lists – Best of 2012 |website=Metacritic |access-date=January 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511074641/http://www.metacritic.com/feature/top-ten-lists-best-movies-of-2012 |archive-date=May 11, 2018 |url-status=live}}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• 1st – Amy Nicholson, Movieline
• 2nd – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
• 2nd – Drew McWeeny, Hitfix
• 2nd – Michelle Orange, The Village Voice
• 2nd – Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club
• 2nd – Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times (tied with Lincoln)
• 3rd – Richard Jameson, MSN Movies
• 3rd – Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice
• 4th – Mark Mohan, The Oregonian
• 4th – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
• 4th – James Rocchi, MSN Movies
• 4th – Kristopher Tapley, HitFix
• 4th – Drew Taylor & Caryn James, Indiewire
• 5th - The Huffington Post
• 5th – David Ehrlich, Movies.com
• 5th – Scott Foundas, The Village Voice
• 5th – Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
• 6th – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
• 6th – Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
• 6th – Kat Murphy, MSN Movies
• 6th – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
• 6th – Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune
• 7th – Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader
• 7th – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
• 8th – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
• 9th – Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
• 10th – Karina Longworth, The Village Voice
• 10th – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
• 10th – Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast
• 10th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
• Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Claudia Puig, USA Today
• Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Stephanie Zacharek, Film.com

{{div col end}}

{{Main|List of accolades received by Django Unchained}}

Django Unchained garnered several awards and nominations. The American Film Institute named it one of its Top Ten Movies of the Year in December 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044486/american-film-institute-announces.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223071138/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044486/american-film-institute-announces.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 23, 2012 |title=American Film Institute Announces AFI Awards 2012 Official Selections |date=December 10, 2012 |newspaper=The Sacramento Bee |access-date=December 11, 2012}} The film received five Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Picture, and Best Director and Best Screenplay for Tarantino. Tarantino won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a444847/golden-globes-nominations-2013-movies-list-in-full.html |title=Golden Globes nominations 2013: Movies list in full |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |date=December 13, 2012 |work=Digital Spy |access-date=December 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151644/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a444847/golden-globes-nominations-2013-movies-list-in-full.html|archive-date=October 6, 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite news |author=Andrew Pulver |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/quentin-tarantino-oscar-screenplay-django-unchained |title=Quentin Tarantino wins best original screenplay Oscar for Django Unchained | Film |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=January 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215124157/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/quentin-tarantino-oscar-screenplay-django-unchained |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |url-status=live}} Christoph Waltz received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor, his second time receiving all three awards, having previously won for his role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.{{cite web |last=Heller |first=Corinne |title=Golden Globe Awards: Christoph Waltz of 'Django Unchained' wins Supporting Actor – Drama |website=OnTheRedCarpet.com |date=January 13, 2013 |url=http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Golden-Globe-Awards:-Christoph-Waltz-of-Django-Unchained-wins-Supporting-Actor---Drama/8953231 |access-date=January 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115020553/http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Golden-Globe-Awards:-Christoph-Waltz-of-Django-Unchained-wins-Supporting-Actor---Drama/8953231 |archive-date=January 15, 2013 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://oscar.go.com/nominees |title=Oscars – The Nominees |publisher=The Academy Awards of Motion Pictures and the Arts |access-date=February 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110203809/http://oscar.go.com/nominees |archive-date=January 10, 2013}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/oscars-2013-full-list-winners |title=Oscars 2013: the full list of winners |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=February 25, 2013 |access-date=February 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019105500/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/oscars-2013-full-list-winners |archive-date=October 19, 2013 |url-status=live}} The NAACP Image Awards gave the film four nominations, while the National Board of Review named DiCaprio their Best Supporting Actor.{{cite web |url=http://www.naacpimageawards.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/44th-NIA-Nominations_Final_Release.pdf |title=The '44th NAACP Image Awards' nominees announced |date=December 11, 2012 |publisher=National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |access-date=December 12, 2012|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319130412/http://www.naacpimageawards.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/44th-NIA-Nominations_Final_Release.pdf |archive-date=March 19, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/ |title=Awards for 2012 |date=December 5, 2012 |publisher=National Board of Review |access-date=December 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612165922/http://nbrmp.org/awards/ |archive-date=June 12, 2010}} Django Unchained earned a nomination for Best Theatrical Motion Picture from the Producers Guild of America.{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-producersguild-idUKBRE9010QI20130102 |title="Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty," up for Producers Guild awards |last=Serjeant |first=Jill |date=January 2, 2013 |work=Reuters |access-date=January 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129200308/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/02/uk-producersguild-idUKBRE9010QI20130102|archive-date=January 29, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Some commentators thought that the film's over-usage of the word "nigger" was inappropriate; they objected to that even more than to the extensive violence depicted against the slaves.{{cite web |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/surviving-django-8opx |title=Surviving 'Django' |work=BuzzFeed |date=January 5, 2012|access-date=August 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429111621/https://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/surviving-django-8opx|archive-date=April 29, 2017|url-status=live}} Other reviewers{{cite news |work=The Hollywood Reporter |title=Django Unchained: Film Review |date=December 11, 2012 |first=Todd |last=McCarthy |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/django-unchained/review/399663|access-date=December 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121217162406/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/django-unchained/review/399663|archive-date=December 17, 2012|url-status=live}} have defended the usage of the language in the historical context of race and slavery in the United States.{{cite web |title=Django Unchained and Race: Here's What Drudge Doesn't Tell You |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/12/django_unchaine.php |work=The Village Voice |access-date=December 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216005936/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/12/django_unchaine.php|archive-date=December 16, 2012|url-status=dead}}

African American filmmaker Spike Lee, in an interview with Vibe, said he would not see the film, explaining "All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me ... I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else."{{cite web |title=Spike Lee slams Django Unchained:'I'm not Gonna See It' |work=Vibe |access-date=December 24, 2012 |date=December 21, 2012 |url=http://www.vibe.com/article/spike-lee-slams-django-unchained-im-not-gonna-see-it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230180658/http://www.vibe.com/article/spike-lee-slams-django-unchained-im-not-gonna-see-it|archive-date=December 30, 2012|url-status=live}} Lee later wrote, "American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a Holocaust. My ancestors are slaves stolen from Africa. I will honor them."{{cite news |last=Blumsom |first=Amy |title=Tarantino will never work with 'that son of a b____' Spike Lee again |date=November 24, 2015 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/hateful-eight/tarantino-will-never-work-with-spike-lee-again/ |access-date=November 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111212859/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/hateful-eight/tarantino-will-never-work-with-spike-lee-again/|archive-date=November 11, 2016|url-status=live}}

Actor and activist Jesse Williams has contrasted accuracy of the racist language used in the film with what he sees as the film's lack of accuracy about the general lives of slaves, too often portrayed as "well-dressed Negresses in flowing gowns, frolicking on swings and enjoying leisurely strolls through the grounds, as if the setting is Versailles, mixed in with occasional acts of barbarism against slaves ... That authenticity card that Tarantino uses to buy all those 'niggers' has an awfully selective memory."{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/19/opinion/williams-django-still-chained |title=Django, in chains |last=Williams |first=Jesse |date=February 21, 2013 |work=CNN |access-date=August 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817083118/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/19/opinion/williams-django-still-chained/|archive-date=August 17, 2016|url-status=live}} He also criticizes what seems to be a lack of solidarity among slave characters, and their general lack of a will to escape from slavery, with Django as the notable exception.

Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe praised the realism of the villain Stephen, played by Samuel L. Jackson, comparing him to such black Republicans as Clarence Thomas or Herman Cain.{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Wesley |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2012/12/25/tarantino-blows-spaghetti-western-django-unchained/hcwJVvWEtMNrlUlatAF1dK/story.html |title=Tarantino blows up the spaghetti western in 'Django Unchained' |work=Boston Globe |date=December 25, 2012 |access-date=June 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922144906/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2012/12/25/tarantino-blows-spaghetti-western-django-unchained/hcwJVvWEtMNrlUlatAF1dK/story.html |archive-date=September 22, 2017 |url-status=live}}

Jackson said that he believed his character to have "the same moral compass as Clarence Thomas does".{{cite news |last=Ryzik |first=Melena |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/movies/awardsseason/supporting-actor-category-is-thick-with-hopefuls.html |title=Supporting Actor Category Is Thick With Hopefuls |work=The New York Times |date=December 19, 2012 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508185013/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/movies/awardsseason/supporting-actor-category-is-thick-with-hopefuls.html |archive-date=May 8, 2017 |url-status=live}} Jackson defended the extensive use of the word "nigger": "Saying Tarantino said 'nigger' too many times is like complaining they said 'kyke' [sic] too many times in a movie about Nazis."{{cite web |url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Samuel-L-Jackson-hits-out-at-Kamau-Bell-over-Django-Unchained-criticism/tabid/418/articleID/314292/Default.aspx |title=Samuel L Jackson hits out at Kamau Bell over Django Unchained criticism |access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109043912/http://www.3news.co.nz/Samuel-L-Jackson-hits-out-at-Kamau-Bell-over-Django-Unchained-criticism/tabid/418/articleID/314292/Default.aspx|archive-date=November 9, 2013|url-status=dead}} The review by Jesse Williams notes, however, that these antisemitic terms were not used nearly as frequently in Tarantino's film about Nazis, Inglourious Basterds, as he used "nigger" in Django. He suggested that the Jewish community would not have accepted it.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan noted the difference between Tarantino's Jackie Brown and Django Unchained: "It is an institution whose horrors need no exaggerating, yet Django does exactly that, either to enlighten or entertain. A white director slinging around the n-word in a homage to '70s blaxploitation à la Jackie Brown is one thing, but the same director turning the savageness of slavery into pulp fiction is quite another."{{cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Erin Aubry |title='Django' an unsettling experience for many blacks |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-django-reax-2-20121228,0,1771716.story |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 28, 2012 |access-date=December 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230233158/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-django-reax-2-20121228,0,1771716.story|archive-date=December 30, 2012|url-status=live}}

While hosting NBC's Saturday Night Live, Jamie Foxx joked about being excited "to kill all the white people in the movie".{{cite web |url=http://nation.foxnews.com/jamie-foxx/2012/12/10/jamie-foxx-jokes-about-killing-all-white-people |title=Jamie Foxx Jokes About Killing 'All The White People' |work=Fox Nation |date=December 10, 2012|access-date=December 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511174638/http://nation.foxnews.com/jamie-foxx/2012/12/10/jamie-foxx-jokes-about-killing-all-white-people|archive-date=May 11, 2013|url-status=dead}} Conservative columnist Jeff Kuhner responded to the SNL skit for The Washington Times, saying: "Anti-white bigotry has become embedded in our postmodern culture. Take Django Unchained. The movie boils down to one central theme: the white man as devil—a moral scourge who must be eradicated like a lethal virus."{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/13/jamie-foxx-and-the-rise-of-black-bigotry/ |title=KUHNER: Jamie Foxx and the rise of black bigotry |work=The Washington Times |date=December 13, 2012|access-date=December 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225024900/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/13/jamie-foxx-and-the-rise-of-black-bigotry//|archive-date=December 25, 2012|url-status=live}}

Samuel L. Jackson said to Vogue Man that "Django Unchained was a harder and more detailed exploration of what the slavery experience was than 12 Years a Slave, but director Steve McQueen is an artist and since he's respected for making supposedly art films, it's held in higher esteem than Django, because that was basically a blaxploitation movie."{{Cite news |url=https://mattpomroy.com/2018/04/04/samuel-l-jackson-cover-story/ |title=Samuel L Jackson cover story |date=April 4, 2018 |work=MATT POMROY|access-date=April 11, 2018 |language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411174638/https://mattpomroy.com/2018/04/04/samuel-l-jackson-cover-story/|archive-date=April 11, 2018|url-status=live}}

The film became infamous for its brutality, with some reviews criticizing it for being much too violent.{{cite news |last=Dershowitz |first=Jessica |title="Django Unchained": Critics weigh in on Quentin Tarantino film |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/django-unchained-critics-weigh-in-on-quentin-tarantino-film/ |work=CBS News |access-date=December 26, 2012 |date=December 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225154647/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57560737/django-unchained-critics-weigh-in-on-quentin-tarantino-film/ |archive-date=December 25, 2012 |url-status=live}} The originally planned premiere of Django was postponed following the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 14, 2012.{{cite news |last=Battersby |first=Matilda |title='Give me a break' – Tarantino tires of defending ultra-violent films after Sandy Hook massacre |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/give-me-a-break--tarantino-tires-of-defending-ultraviolent-films-after-sandy-hook-massacre-8422467.html |work=The Independent |date=December 17, 2012 |location=London |access-date=August 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208083550/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/give-me-a-break--tarantino-tires-of-defending-ultraviolent-films-after-sandy-hook-massacre-8422467.html |archive-date=February 8, 2015 |url-status=live}} Thomas Frank criticized the film's use of violence as follows:

Not surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino has lately become the focus for this sort of criticism (about the relationship between the movies and acts of violence). The fact that Django Unchained arrived in theaters right around the time of the Sandy Hook massacre didn't help. Yet he has refused to give an inch in discussing the link between movie violence and real life. Obviously I don't think one has to do with the other. Movies are about make-believe. It's about imagination. Part of the thing is trying to create a realistic experience, but we are faking it. Is it possible that anyone in our cynical world credits a self-serving sophistry like this? Of course an industry under fire will claim that its hands are clean, just as the NRA has done – and of course a favorite son, be it Tarantino or LaPierre, can be counted on to make the claim louder than anyone else. But do they really believe that imaginative expression is without consequence?Frank, Thomas (March 2013) "Blood Sport." Harper's Magazine; page 6-7.

The Independent said the movie was part of "the new sadism in cinema" and added, "There is something disconcerting about sitting in a crowded cinema as an audience guffaws at the latest garroting or falls about in hysterics as someone is beheaded or has a limb lopped off".{{cite news |author=McNabb, Geoffrey |date=January 11, 2013 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/django-unchained-and-the-new-sadism-in-cinema-8446213.html |title=Django Unchained and the 'new sadism' in cinema |work=The Independent|access-date=February 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129082358/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/django-unchained-and-the-new-sadism-in-cinema-8446213.html|archive-date=January 29, 2013|url-status=live}}

Adam Serwer from Mother Jones said, "Django, like many Tarantino films, also has been criticized as cartoonishly violent, but it is only so when Django is killing slave owners and overseers. The violence against slaves is always appropriately terrifying. This, if nothing else, puts Django in the running for Tarantino's best film, the first one in which he discovers violence as horror rather than just spectacle. When Schultz turns his head away from a slave being torn apart by dogs, Django explains to Calvin Candie—the plantation owner played by Leo DiCaprio—that Schultz just isn't used to Americans."{{cite web |author=Serwer, Adam |date=January 7, 2013 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/01/tarantino-django-unchained-western-racism-violence |title=In Defense of Django |work=Mother Jones |access-date=January 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150116041728/http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/01/tarantino-django-unchained-western-racism-violence|archive-date=January 16, 2015|url-status=live}}

Although Tarantino has said about Mandingo fighting, "I was always aware those things existed", there is no definitive historical evidence that slave owners ever staged gladiator-like fights to the death between male slaves like the fight depicted in the movie.{{cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Rene |title=Tarantino talks 'Django Unchained' |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/21/3152097/tarantino-talks-django-unchained.html |work=The Miami Herald |date=December 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223005411/http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/21/3152097/tarantino-talks-django-unchained.html |archive-date=February 23, 2013}}{{cite web |title=Was There Really "Mandingo Fighting," Like in Django Unchained? |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/24/django_unchained_mandingo_fighting_were_any_slaves_really_forced_to_fight.html |work=Slate |date=December 24, 2012|access-date=December 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607072803/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/24/django_unchained_mandingo_fighting_were_any_slaves_really_forced_to_fight.html|archive-date=June 7, 2016|url-status=live}} Historian Edna Greene Medford notes that there are only undocumented rumors that such fights took place.{{cite web |url=http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/is-mandingo-fighting-a-real-thing/ |title='Django' Unexplained: Was Mandingo Fighting a Real Thing? – NextMovie |work=NextMovie |access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217015326/http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/is-mandingo-fighting-a-real-thing/|archive-date=December 17, 2014|url-status=live}} David Blight, the director of Yale's center for the study of slavery, said it was not a matter of moral or ethical reservations that prevented slave owners from pitting slaves against each other in combat, but rather economic self-interest: slave owners would not have wanted to put their substantial financial investments at risk in gladiatorial battles.

The non-historical term "Mandingo" for a fine fighting or breeding slave comes not from Tarantino, but the 1975 film Mandingo,Daniel Bernardi, The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary ...- 2013 "For the purposes of breeding chattel, he must also buy a "Mandingo" buck, a male slave. In the film, a "Mandingo" represents the finest stock of slaves deemed most suitable for fighting and breeding."{{page needed|date=January 2015}} which was itself based on a 1957 novel with the same title.

Writing in The New Yorker, William Jelani Cobb observed that Tarantino's occasional historical elasticity sometimes worked to the film's advantage. "There are moments," Cobb wrote, "where this convex history works brilliantly, like when Tarantino depicts the Ku Klux Klan a decade prior to its actual formation in order to thoroughly ridicule its members' veiled racism."{{cite magazine |last=Cobb |first=Jelani |title=Tarantino Unchained |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/how-accurate-is-quentin-tarantinos-portrayal-of-slavery-in-django-unchained.html |date=January 2, 2013 |access-date=January 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104163149/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/how-accurate-is-quentin-tarantinos-portrayal-of-slavery-in-django-unchained.html|archive-date=January 4, 2013|url-status=live}} Tarantino holds that the masked marauders depicted in the film were not the KKK, but a group known as "The Regulators". They were depicted as spiritual forebears of the later post-civil war KKK and not as the actual KKK.{{cite magazine |last=Holslin |first=Peter |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/quentin-tarantino-and-cast-reveal-django-details-at-comic-con-20120714 |title=Quentin Tarantino and Cast Reveal 'Django' Details at Comic-Con |date=July 14, 2012 |access-date=January 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205065427/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/quentin-tarantino-and-cast-reveal-django-details-at-comic-con-20120714|archive-date=February 5, 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Moore |first=Nolan |work=Screenprism |url=http://screenprism.com/insights/article/is-django-unchained-historically-accurate-and-does-it-matter |title=Q: Is "Django Unchained" historically accurate and does it matter? |date=July 7, 2015 |access-date=April 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427003531/http://screenprism.com/insights/article/is-django-unchained-historically-accurate-and-does-it-matter|archive-date=April 27, 2017|url-status=live}}

On the matter of historical accuracy, Christopher Caldwell wrote in the Financial Times: "Of course, we must not mistake a feature film for a public television documentary", pointing out that the film should be treated as entertainment, not as a historical account of the period it is set in. "Django uses slavery the way a pornographic film might use a nurses' convention: as a pretext for what is really meant to entertain us. What is really meant to entertain us in Django is violence."{{cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fb2e5468-55b7-11e2-bdd2-00144feab49a.html |title=Tarantino's crusade to ennoble violence |work=Financial Times |date=January 5, 2013 |access-date=February 28, 2013 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114145944/https://www.ft.com/content/fb2e5468-55b7-11e2-bdd2-00144feab49a |url-status=live }} Richard Brody, however, wrote in The New Yorker that Tarantino's "vision of slavery's monstrosity is historically accurate.... Tarantino rightly depicts slavery as no mere administrative ownership but a grievous and monstrous infliction of cruelty."{{cite magazine |last=Brody |first=Richard |title=The Riddle of Tarantino |url=https://www.newyorker.com/the-front-row/the-riddle-of-tarantino |magazine=The New Yorker |date=December 28, 2012 |access-date=January 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018100534/http://www.newyorker.com/the-front-row/the-riddle-of-tarantino |archive-date=October 18, 2015 |url-status=live}}

A comic book adaptation of Django Unchained was released by DC Comics in 2013.{{gcdb issue|id=1039487|title=DC Comics: Django Unchained}}{{comicbookdb|type=issue|id=263600|title=DC Comics: Django Unchained}} In 2015, a sequel crossover comic entitled Django/Zorro was released by Dynamite Entertainment, co-written by Tarantino and Matt Wagner, the latter being the first comic book sequel to a Quentin Tarantino film.{{cite web |url=http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513022349401011 |title=Dynamite® Django / Zorro #1 |access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115072349/http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513022349401011|archive-date=January 15, 2015|url-status=live}}

Tarantino has said in an interview that he has 90 minutes of unused material and considered re-editing Django Unchained into a four-hour, four-night cable miniseries. Tarantino said that breaking the story into four parts would be more satisfying to audiences than a four-hour movie: "... it wouldn't be an endurance test. It would be a miniseries. And people love those."{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/05/23/quentin-tarantino/9483365/ |title=Tarantino wants to make 'Django' TV mini-series |last=Alexander |first=Bryan |work=USA Today |date=May 24, 2014 |access-date=May 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524033023/http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/05/23/quentin-tarantino/9483365/|archive-date=May 24, 2014|url-status=live}}

Tarantino's first attempt at a Django Unchained sequel was with the unpublished paperback novel titled Django in White Hell. However, after Tarantino decided that the tone of the developing story did not fit with the character's morals, he began re-writing it as an original screenplay which later became the director's follow-up film, The Hateful Eight.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/11/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-django-novel |title=Quentin Tarantino explains how Hateful Eight began as a Django novel |last=Staskiewicz |first=Keith |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |location=US |date=December 11, 2015 |access-date=January 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104100518/http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/11/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-django-novel |archive-date=January 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}

In June 2019, Tarantino had picked Jerrod Carmichael to co-write a film adaptation based on the Django/Zorro crossover comic book series.{{cite web |url=https://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-jerrod-carmichael-django-zorro-movie/#images |title=Exclusive: Quentin Tarantino Working with Jerrod Carmichael on 'Django/Zorro' Movie |first=Jeff |last=Sneider |website=Collider |date=June 3, 2019 |access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604051314/http://collider.com/quentin-tarantino-jerrod-carmichael-django-zorro-movie/#images|archive-date=June 4, 2019|url-status=live}} Tarantino and Jamie Foxx have both expressed interest in having Antonio Banderas reprise his role as Zorro from The Mask of Zorro (1998) and The Legend of Zorro (2005) in the film in addition to Foxx himself reprising his role as Django.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/28/comic-con-quentin-tarantino-django-zorro-crossover |title=Comic-Con 2014: Quentin Tarantino on the Django-Zorro crossover |first=Emma-Lee |last=Moss |website=The Guardian |date=July 28, 2014 |access-date=July 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728102138/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/28/comic-con-quentin-tarantino-django-zorro-crossover|archive-date=July 28, 2014|url-status=live}}

In the opening scene, the Speck brothers have six slaves between then, but when they meet Dr' Schultz, only five are left.

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