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Subscribe to RSSQuentin Tarantino’s latest movie, “Django Unchained,” about a slave-turned-bounty hunter, doesn’t shy away from violence and language, including 110 uses of the N-word –- something the cast had to come to grips with while filming.
“These characters use the N-word because that’s what people said back then, and again if you don’t understand how ugly the time is, you don’t understand how bad--- [Django] is to get through this time,” Kerry Washington told Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle, referencing Jamie Foxx’s Django character.
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“There were days when hearing that N-word over and over again would start to get a little uncomfortable and Jaime and I had these imaginary shields… we’d roll up our n-word shield,” she explained.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays plantation owner Calvin Candie, uses the word most often, but had trouble going there, according to his co-stars.
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“I think that what Quentin wanted to do was really let you know how it really was [during this time] and you’re not supposed to feel good about it,” Foxx said.
Foxx said co-star Samuel L. Jackson helped motivate DiCaprio to immerse himself in the character and his language.
“When Leo goes, ‘Buddy, I’m having a tough time with these words’ and then… Samuel Jackson [told him] ‘It’s just another Tuesday for us, get over that.’ And I told Leo, if you don’t go there then we don’t have a story. So the next day he walked [and] he didn’t even speak to me,” the actor recalled.
Foxx added, “We knew we had to go to a bad place and when I talked to black people about the film and they say they were bothered by the N-word, I said, ‘It’s supposed to, it’s supposed to bother you. Those horrific things that happened to us, is supposed to bother you.’”
Despite the film’s intensity, Washington stressed the film isn’t just a painful look at a horrific time in our history.
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“This film is the full ride… you will absolutely laugh, you will cry, you will be afraid, you will fall in love. You get the whole shebang,” she told Access.
“Django Unchained” opens in theaters on Dec. 25.
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almost like a typical rap video
Except Leo or Tarantino don't rap. Tarantino has never seemed to have the slightest problem with that word. Now that I know it's used so frequently in the film, I'll pass.
I can't wait to see this movie and the cast is so incredible.
Is Tarantino trying to outdo Scarface and F-bombs? What is that, like one N-word per minute?
Maybe I'm too young, but a word in a movie doesn't resonate hate to me. I'm pretty sure the true to life actions of people then and now hold much more hatred than chastising a director for using foul language in a movie. Pull your head out of the sand and live a little people.
actually the term used alot in those times was negra - it was common and didn have the stigma attached as the term @!$%# does today. and lets not forget that in africa, there is a whole country called Niger
basically the word ( negro) meant black ( as it does in Spanish). the mis pronunciation of the word to @!$%# or nigga was merely the slang of those times.
and today, @!$%# is used as a kidding or even affectionate word among blacks or niggas as they call themselves. the joke is they can say the word and whites cannot. I can assure you it is used far more often among blacks than anyone else.
the real issue here is not the word but the context or intent behind the word. if it is hatred then of course it carries a negative connotation.
but during colonial times the word was used by whites and blacks..to describe or qualify an individual as " the @!$%# Jones" or that "sweet nigga mammy".
the best way to neutralize any slander is to ignore it or show that you are better than any derogatory description..( and the rap on the BET does not do a very good job of that does it ? )
What the hell is everyone so bothered about? Do any of these people live in the real world? Have you been around any black people lately? The call each other n_gg__r all the time. And if there are white people around they ramp it up even more, kind of an in-your-face thing. In my neighborhood the black kids shoot hoops and call out and tease each other while playing and there's nothing unusual. As soon as they see me however, they start using the N word to each other, loud and often just to make sure i hear it. So please, PLEASE don't tell me how offensive this word is, or that nobody hears it anymore.
Anyone who watches this VIOLENT TRASH might as well put a bumper sticker on their car that says: "I LUV Adam Lanza!"
Dozens of innocent children in Connecticut were MURDERED in COLD BLOOD by a gun-loving BEAST.
Say NO to gun violence.
Say "HELL NO!!!" to this sick movie.
That word has to be in the movie because it's relevant to that time period. That is how people spoke. The word is not relevant now in real life because of the history with that word. Anyone who uses it now in general conversation is pure trash. I hear as many adults say it as kids. Great parents and wonderful role models.... (not). NO ONE gets a pass to use that word now, I don't care what color you are.
If the director wanted to make the movie to the time period then of course he used the N-Word. It was widly excepted in the culture of the time. It would have been used a lot.
But when it comes to today's slurs it is the black man who gets to do all the sluring that means the same to other races and is just as degrading as the n-word did to them. But they get to get away with it, becuase they were black slaves. Over 2 hundred years ago.
They may have been sold into slavery here, but back in Africa, it was the OTHER black tribes that sold each other to the slavers. We never hear about that do we.
Like there have not been slaves of different races for thousands of years.
So for myself who is sick of hearing about the poor, poor, black slaves and what they suffered, I'll wait till it comes out on TV and then maybe I will watch it.
Peeps need to grow thicker skin. It will never be okay for contemporary caucasians to use the word. Black people earned the right to the word, to use it, to not use it, their choice. Somehow I feel that MLK Jr would prefer the word forgotten, but unfortunately he's not around to comment on that. what does it matter to you. Racism doesn't require a specific label in any direction. Get to know people as a person and racism usually is eliminated from the equation. history should not be edited or its lessons are watered down