Jamie Foxx shares big âproblemâ that Leonardo DiCaprio had with Django Unchained
â??When Leo came in the next day, he didnâ??t speak,â?? Foxx revealed
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Jamie Foxx has revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio was left uncomfortable by a big âproblemâ on the set of Django Unchained.
The issues arose when DiCaprio, in character as plantation owner Calvin Candie, had to say a racial slur.
However, his co-star Samuel L Jackson, who has previously defended director Quentin Tarantinoâs use of the N-word in his films, had strong words for DiCaprio.
âLeonardo DiCaprio had a problem saying it,â Foxx, the 2012 filmâs lead star, said in a new interview, revealing the actor told his co-stars: âItâs tough for me to say this.â
Jackson, who played Calvinâs fiercely loyal slave Stephen, quickly jumped to action, though, and tried to make DiCaprio feel OK saying the word while in character.
Foxx, who currently stars in Netflix film Back in Action, told Vanity Fair: âI remember Samuel L Jackson going, âGet over it, motherf***er! Itâs just another Tuesday, motherf***er!ââ
Meanwhile, Foxx told DiCaprio: âLeo, we are not friends. This is your property, these arenât humans. This is your propertyâ and, consequently, âwhen Leo came in the next day, he didnât speakâ to anyone so as to stay in character.
Tarantino has often faced criticism for using racial slurs in his films, including Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, and Jackson touched on the debate in documentary QT8: The First Eight.
The actor questioned why people take offence to the word being used in Tarantinoâs films, but donât argue the same point when itâs spoken by a white actor in a film thatâs considered more serious in tone.
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âYou take 12 Years a Slave, which is supposedly made by an auteur,â Jackson said. âSteve McQueen is very different than Quentin... So itâs ok for Steve McQueen to use [the N-word] because heâs artistically attacking the system and the way people think and feel, but Quentin is just doing it to just strike the blackboard with his nails? Thatâs not true.
Leonardo DiCaprio in âDjango Unchainedâ (Sony Pictures Releasing )
âThereâs no dishonesty in anything that [Quentin] writes or how people talk, feel, or speak [in his movies].â
He also addressed the subject during an interview with Esquire, calling the backlash âbulls***â.
âYou canât just tell a writer he canât talk, write the words, put the words in the mouths of the people from their ethnicities, the way that they use their words,â he said, adding: âYou cannot do that, because then it becomes an untruth; itâs not honest. Itâs just not honest.