Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained emerged as one of 2012’s most controversial movies, for its use of the fun, darkly comic, ultraviolent cinematic stylings of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns to depict the very real horrors of American slavery. But it was also praised as one of the year’s greatest films, and one of the best westerns since the genre’s heyday over half a century ago.
The best Tarantino movies feature actors bringing genuine humanity to genre characters, and Django has that in spades. Jamie Foxx leads a cast filled with A-list talent giving spectacular performances. So, here are all the major performances in Django Unchained, ranked.
Don Johnson As Big Daddy
Miami Vice’s Don Johnson gives a comical performance as plantation owner Spencer “Big Daddy” Bennet. At best, he has some amusing line deliveries, but at worst, a comedic portrayal of a plantation owner comes off uncomfortably.
Johnson brings a Southern charm to the role, but it’s poorly placed because this isn’t a character who should be depicted as charming.
Laura Cayouette As Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly
The character of Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly pretty much only exists to show her creepy pseudo-incestuous relationship with her brother, Calvin. Lara Lee is an extension of Calvin’s role as the primary antagonist.
But with her limited material, Laura Cayouette still gives a strong performance as a Southern belle who gleefully turns a blind eye to the brutality endured by the slaves working on her family’s plantation. Lara Lee is unabashedly deplorable, and Cayouette leans into that.
Walton Goggins As Billy Crash
Walton Goggins’ supporting turn as the evil Billy Crash was so memorable that it scored the actor one of the lead roles in Tarantino’s next movie, The Hateful Eight. The role of Chris Mannix in that subsequent film gave Goggins a chance to show off more of his range – particularly his comic line delivery – than his role in Django Unchained.
But as Calvin Candie’s reprehensible right-hand man who trains Candyland’s male slaves to fight to the death, Goggins created an unforgettable villain whose retribution we eagerly anticipate. What makes Billy Crash stand out more than anything is the psychotic look in his eye, which Goggins nailed.
Samuel L. Jackson As Stephen
Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of Stephen, Calvin Candie’s house slave, is truly sinister. Jackson had the difficult task of playing a black villain in a movie about antebellum-era slavery, and he did so by doubling down on Stephen’s hateful way of thinking. When Stephen confronts Broomhilda about his suspicions that she knows Django, he’s genuinely frightening. When he takes Broomhilda as a hostage to put an end to the Candyland shootout, he has real menace.
Jackson is usually lovable in his Tarantino roles, from Jules Winnfield to Major Marquis Warren, but with the opportunity to play a kind of character we don’t usually get to see him play, he really shines. Maybe he should play more villains; he’s clearly great at it.
Jamie Foxx As Django Freeman
Over the course of Django Unchained, Django goes from a beaten and bloodied member of a chain gang to an unstoppable force of vengeance, and Jamie Foxx plays that journey with gusto. Tarantino reportedly told Foxx to tone down his coolness on the first day of shooting, and this made his transformation into a badass bounty hunter more palpable. When Django approaches John Brittle and says, “Remember me?,” before shooting him dead, it’s a glorious, triumphant, heroic moment.
Tarantino initially wrote the role of Django with Will Smith in mind, but Foxx made the character his own, so it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part as spectacularly as he did. The curious context of Django’s character made the role a unique challenge, but Foxx aced the tightrope walk of tempering the raw emotion of playing an ex-slave with the cinematic fun of playing a gun-toting, sharpshooting spaghetti western hero. Plus, his commitment to the role of a black slaver when Django goes undercover with Dr. Schultz at Candyland is subtly conflicted.
Leonardo DiCaprio As Calvin Candie
In Leonardo DiCaprio’s first few scenes as Calvin Candie, there’s an eccentric theatricality and a campiness to his line delivery. This is what makes his 180-degree turn to show his true nature during the dinner scene so shocking.
When the pontificating charmer takes out a hammer and a skull to make a disturbing point about race relations and smears his actual blood (DiCaprio really cut himself and decided to play it off during the scene) all over Broomhilda’s face, he suddenly becomes terrifying. His unbridled rage, the searing intensity in his eyes, his gleeful fandom of Mandingo fighting – DiCaprio played every scene as the villainous Candie beautifully.
Kerry Washington As Broomhilda Von Shaft
With its stylistic flourishes and over-the-top gruesome violence, Django Unchained often draws attention to the artifice of cinema and reminds the viewer that they’re watching a movie. But Kerry Washington really draws the viewer into the film’s world with authentic portrayals of Broomhilda’s emotions.
In the flashback where Django begs John Brittle not to whip her and he does it anyway, Washington brings out real pain. When Broomhilda is terrified, we’re terrified. When she’s speechless, we’re speechless. Washington gives one of the most human performances in any Tarantino movie in the role of Broomhilda.
Christoph Waltz As Dr. King Schultz
Christoph Waltz was reluctant to take the role of dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained, because he could tell that Tarantino had written the part specifically for him, which made it less of a challenge. However, as a favor to his friend, he took the role, knocked it out of the park, and earned his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Waltz is a supporting actor in the traditional sense, as he doesn’t steal any scenes from his co-star Jamie Foxx or try to make Dr. Schultz the movie’s main character. He’s there to serve Django’s journey and complement his character development, and Waltz does that wonderfully.