Christoph Waltz became a widely known name in the film industry after playing Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, and he re-teamed with the controversial director in Django Unchained, where he played Dr. King Schultz, though he originally turned down the role. Quentin Tarantino has become one of the most popular filmmakers thanks to his peculiar narrative style, mastery in writing dialogues, and generous doses of violence and blood, and like many other directors, there are actors he collaborates with often.

Quentin Tarantino’s most frequent collaborator is Samuel L. Jackson, and there are many others that, even though haven’t appeared in many of his movies, their performances were so great that their names are inevitably linked to Tarantino’s movies. Such is the case of Christoph Waltz, who as mentioned above, played villain Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009. Three years later, Waltz and Tarantino worked together again in the Revisionist Western Django Unchained, where instead of playing a villain, he played an important ally to Jamie Foxx’s Django.

Related: Why Will Smith Turned Down Django Unchained

Waltz played Dr. King Schultz, a dentist-turned-bounty-hunter who at the beginning of Django Unchained freed Django, killing one of his owners and leaving the other slaves to kill their other owner. Schultz and Django joined forces to go after other criminals and claim the bounty, and after hearing Django’s story and quest to find and rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), Schultz agreed to help him. Schultz and Django eventually learned where Broomhilda was and soon arrived at Calvin Candie’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) plantation, as he was the new owner of Broomhilda, and came up with a plan to buy her without suspicion. Unfortunately, everything went south, and after making a deal with Candie, he insisted on Schultz shaking his hand, and tired of Candie’s arrogance, he agreed, but he shot and killed Candie instead. Schultz was then killed by Candie’s bodyguard, leaving Django on his own. Schultz was key in Django’s journey to rescue Broomhilda, but Waltz was initially reluctant to take the role and actually turned it down.

Django Unchained Dr. King Schultz

Waltz reportedly turned down the role of Dr. Schultz in Django Unchained because he felt it was “too tailored” for his persona and that it would come across as him being himself on screen, so it wasn’t really a challenging character for him. However, Tarantino wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer (especially after Waltz’s unforgettable performance as Hans Landa), so Waltz agreed on one condition: his character had to be pure and never act in a negative or evil manner. Waltz was most likely also avoiding being typecast as the villain, as right after Inglourious Basterds, he played the antagonist in The Green Hornet and Water For Elephants, and even though Schultz wasn't on the side of evil, after Django Unchained, Waltz played one of James Bond’s most notable bad guys – Blofeld – in Spectre and No Time To Die, so he inevitably became associated with the image of a villain.

Ultimately, Waltz made the right decision by agreeing to play Dr. Schultz in Django Unchained as he won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2012, and it was refreshing for the audience to see him as an ally rather than a chilling villain after his performance as Hans Landa. It’s unknown if Christoph Waltz and Quentin Tarantino will work together again in the near future, but if they do, it’s going to be interesting to see if he will play another villain, an ally, or if he will be the hero this time.

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