The Scorecard Review news
News: Kevin Costner, who was set to play slave trainer Ace Woody, has dropped out of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. According to Deadline, Costner dropped out because of “a combination of scheduling and personal reasons.” Source: Deadline
Thoughts by TSR: Even with casting like Jamie Foxx as the titular freed slave out for revenge, Christoph Waltz as a German bounty hunter and Samuel L. Jackson as the house slave/right-hand man of evil plantation owner Calvin Candie, Kevin Costner was one of Quentin Tarantino’s casting decisions I was most excited about. In fact, other than Leonardo DiCaprio as the aforementioned Calvin Candie, Costner as slave trainer Ace Woody was the one bit of casting I was most looking forward to seeing. It would have been a huge departure for the actor and I was excited to see him play this type of character. Unfortunately, Costner has dropped out of Django Unchained.
Alas, Costner simply has too much going on at the moment. Between Pa Kent in Zack Snyder’s Superman film Man of Steel, and a miniseries on History called “The Hatfields and McCoys”, he just couldn’t take two months out of his schedule. I hope Tarantino once again looks outside the box for this role and casts somebody who we wouldn’t necessarily think of to play a villainous character like this.
So far it’s only been male roles that have been cast. That shouldn’t be the case for long, because according to Deadline, Tarantino is testing actresses for the role of Django’s wife, Broomhilda. Kerry Washington’s name has been mentioned ever since the project was first announced, and I would fully support her in the role. Whoever Tarantino eventually goes with for these roles, I’m sure they will be more than up to the challenge. In Tarantino I trust.