"More blood!?" Kerry Washington recalled
saying on the set of "Django Unchained" in apparent disbelief over
Quentin Tarantino's latest vengeance-themed cinematic creation.
The new "Django" trailer, seen here first on Yahoo! Movies, features
the most we've seen yet of Washington as Broomhilda -- the slave wife of
Django (Jamie Foxx). It also features a new song from John Legend
called "Who Did That To You?"
The film revolves around Django's search for Broomhilda, a reunion
that can only take place after he has killed a bunch of "white folks" as
a bounty hunter. At one point in the trailer Broomhilda is apparently
so awe struck over the sight of Django -- dressed in cowboy attire --
that she unwittingly spills a glass of water as she falls to the ground,
fainting.
Kerry Washington (Photo: Victoria Will/Invision/AP)Washington
sat down with Yahoo! Movies over the summer to discuss her experience
filming Tarantino's tale about a pre-Civil War era slave-turned-bounty
hunter.
One scene, which was shot on a former slave plantation in Louisiana
and depicts Washington's character being whipped, was particularly
difficult for the 35-year-old actress, also the star of ABC's "Scandal."
"To do that scene and know that that sound of a whip against
flesh had echoed through that alley hundreds of years ago on a regular
basis... This is not a Joan of Arc thing, this was a daily practice used
to subjugate human beings. It was horrific," Washington said.
"There were a couple of days that were very very tough for me. And
Jamie [Foxx] would kind of lean in and say 'How are you doing Olivia?'
to sort of remind me... take me out of brutality of the film." Olivia is
the name of her character on "Scandal." And being one of the most
powerful women in the U.S., she couldn't be more opposite from
Broomhilda. "I think it's still true that there are limited
opportunities for African American actresses and limited representation.
But for me to have the privilege of playing two women of color on such
opposite ends of history, opposite ends of socioeconomics, power,
education, freedom... that to me was really gratifying and tremendously
challenging," Washington said.
This is the second time Washington has been cast as Foxx's wife. The
first time was in the 2004 biopic "Ray," which earned Foxx his first
Academy Award. Washington said Foxx called her to congratulate her when
she got the part in "Django" and that she couldn't help but crack a joke
while on the phone: "Let's just do this: Every 10 years or so let's get
together and work with a really important director and do a historical, epic piece of work and hopefully win you an Oscar!" [Laughing.]
Washington acknowledged the potential for controversy around
"Django."As with "Inglorious Basterds," it is a fictional account of
answering violence -- crimes against humanity which actually happened in
history -- with more, fictional violence. "For me, one of the things
that was most important was this idea that we had never really gone into
the brutality of this -- some people call it America's original sin,
the institution of slavery -- in a narrative cinematic experience in
this way," she said, arguing that the violence slaves experienced
regularly is important to remember. "And along comes this director who
is completely not intimidated by gore and the ugliness of the human
spirit and blood and brutality -- he's gone there throughout his
career."
While Washington admitted that Tarantino's artistic style was foreign
to her, sometimes taken aback by the amount of blood he intended to
depict in "Django," she made it clear she holds him in very high esteem.
"I'm personally not a person who celebrates violence... But I respect
his vision as a filmmaker and I really loved that this film is about the
idea that love can conquer anything -- even this most evil of
institutions. That love makes these people rise above that brutality."
"Django Unchained" opens wide on Christmas Day.
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