It's a shockingly graphic scene: "Pulp Fiction" character Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) is raped over a pommel horse by creepy Zed, while a leather-clad Gimp keeps an eye on Butch (Bruce Willis). (Butch eventually breaks free and kills one of the rapists, while the other faces the unimaginable threat of some of Marsellus' pals "getting medieval" on him.)

Andrew Kelly / REUTERS file

Uma Thurman worked with Quentin Tarantino in his 1994 hit "Pulp Fiction," and attended the premiere of his latest film, "Django Unchained," in 2012.

And that scene almost kept star Uma Thurman, then just 23, from acting in the 1994 film, she tells Vanity Fair in an upcoming issue.

"I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it, because I was worried about the Gimp stuff," she says in the article. "We had very memorable, long discussions about male rape versus female rape. No one could believe I even hesitated in any way. Neither can I, in hindsight."

The rape scene may have been hard to watch, but Thurman also told the magazine that it was her famous dance with John Travolta that made her the most nervous, "because I was so awkward and embarrassed and shy."

Director Quentin Tarantino wanted the couple to do the Twist, but dance fiend Travolta suggested they work the moves of other novelty dances into the scene.

The article also discusses how every major studio passed on the film, which of course became a huge hit, and how once it was picked up, Miramax studio head Harvey Weinstein didn't want John Travolta cast. (Can you imagine the film with Daniel Day-Lewis in the Vincent Vega role?)

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. The film is credited with reviving Travolta's career, and the article notes that Weinstein later jokingly said, "I’m so glad I had the idea to cast John Travolta.”

The full article appears in Vanity Fair's February issue.

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Quentin Tarantino's latest film "Django Unchained," nominated Thursday for three Oscars, bears the director's trademark: it is rife with violence. In an interview to promote the film, Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Britain's Channel 4 News attempts to ask Tarantino about what link there might be between violence in films and the proliferation of real-life violence -- and Tarantino wasn't having it.

"Why are you so sure that there's no link between enjoying movie violence and enjoying real violence?" Guru-Murthy asked Tarantino.

"Don't ask me a question like that -- I'm not biting," Tarantino responded. "I refuse your question."

"Why?"

"Because I refuse your question," Tarantino repeated. "I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey."

Ever persistent, Guru-Murthy pressed the issue, until Tarantino decided it was time to put an end to the line of questioning. "I'm here to sell my movie. This is a commercial for my movie, make no mistake. I don't want to talk about the implications of violence ... I've said everything I have to say about it. If anyone cares what I have to say they can Google me ... I haven't changed my opinion one iota ... and I am shutting your butt down!"

And yet Guru-Murthy still pressed on about the relationship between violence in films and in society. And again, Tarantino fought back.

"It's none of your damn business what I think about that!" he exclaimed. Guru-Murthy, again: "Well, it's my job to ask you why you think that because ..." And for the final time, Tarantino said, "And I'm saying no! And I'm shutting you down."

Before things got heated, however, Tarantino was very comfortable parsing out the types of violence he chose to portray in "Django Unchained." 

"Why do you like making violent movies?" Guru-Murthy asked.

"It's like asking Judd Apatow 'Why do you like making comedies?' ... I think it's good cinema. I consider it good cinema," Tarantino said. "There's two types of violence (in 'Django'). There's the brutality of the violence in the day, put upon the slaves during the time, that hasn't been dealt with in America to the extent I deal with it. There was two holocausts in America, this is one of them. Then there's a cathartic violence of 'Django' paying back blood for blood."

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"Django Unchained" has five Golden Globe nominations (best picture, two best supporting actor nods, best director and screenplay) but the film continues to deal with some controversy thanks to its prolific use of a racial slur.

Film critic Jake Hamilton sat down with Samuel L. Jackson, who has a leading role in "Django," and attempted to broach the subject without actually using the N-word. "There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the usage of the N-word in this movie," Hamilton asked. Jackson stopped him right there. "No? Nobody? None? ... We're not going to have this conversation unless you say it,"  he said to Hamilton, who ultimately refused.

The exchange comes during this lengthy interview video which also features director Quentin Tarantino and cast members Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington and Christoph Waltz. Fast forward to the 13:55 mark for Jackson.

It's an interesting approach to not talking about something everyone is talking about. (Gawker originally pointed out the Hamilton/Jackson interview; for a recap of the controversy itself, check out this piece by Slate).

Ultimately, the language and Tarantino's raw approach to the film is not having a negative effect on the film's performance at the box office. "Django Unchained" has made more than $68 million since opening Dec. 25. During opening weekend itself, "Django" made $30 million and took the No. 2 spot. "The Hobbit" barely edged it out for No. 1 ($31 million), and "Les Miserables" was No. 3, with $27 million. 

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Max Rossi / Reuters

Spike Lee.

Don't expect Spike Lee to be in the audience when "Django Unchained" hits theaters on Christmas Day. The  "She's Gotta Have It" filmmaker is not going to see it, and took time out to bash the flick on Twitter, after slamming it in an interview with Vibe Magazine. 

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"I can't speak on it 'cause I'm not gonna see it," Lee told the mag when asked if he planned to see the film. "All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors."

But that actually wasn't all he was going to say.

Check out the best OMG moments in Quentin Tarantino's movies!

Lee went on to give his take on the slavery flick's subject matter on Twitter Saturday.

"American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them," Lee wrote.

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This isn't the first time Lee has criticized Quentin Tarantino's body of work, however.

When "Jackie Brown" was released in 1997, Lee said, "I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino's excessive use of the n-word. And let the record state that I never said that he cannot use that word--I've used that word in many of my films--but I think something is wrong with him," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

So much for the Christmas spirit. 

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Quentin 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.

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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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Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in "Django Unchained."

Quentin Tarantino’s latest shoot 'em up, revenge spectacle “Django Unchained,” doesn’t come out until Christmas, but Tarantino and the Weinstein Co. have whet our palette with Wednesday's release of the punchy trailer.

Ever since 2007, when Tarantino told The Daily Telegraph that he was looking to shoot a spaghetti Western, expectations have been high for the famous pop-culture-obsessed auteur’s newest film. Will Smith, who Tarantino had initially written the lead role of Django for, declined the part while Sacha Baron Cohen, Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner dropped out just before production. Yet none of this derailed the powerhouse film, which borrowed half its name from Sergio Corbucci’s hyper-violent 1966 Western “Django.”

In the trailer for the new film, Tarantino showcases his usual blend of shockingly gruesome violence, quick wit and charmingly sadistic characters as dentist-turned-bounty-hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) buys the freedom of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) to help him capture the murderous Brittle brothers. After reaping their bounty, the duo chooses to stay together and head off to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who's enslaved by Calvin Candie, a wry plantation owner played by a drawling Leonardo DiCaprio.

As Django transitions from sad man on the chain gang to gun-toting bounty hunter hell-bent on finding his wife, the music changes and the excitement kicks in.

Check it out:

“Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention,” Candie tells Dr. Schultz and Django in the trailer.

The Francophile slave-owner might as well have been talking to those of us who watched the teaser. “Django Unchained,” you have our attention. See you Christmas day.

What do you think of the trailer? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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