The teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained frightens me in the best ways possible. The performances seem positively unhinged. The concept is pure pulp. Everything seems to be winking at the audience. It's possibly more self-aware and darkly humorous than Death Proof. Yet, I found myself clapping with delight at the expected beats. Look, there's Christoph Waltz's bounty hunter shooting faster than any man without bullet time abilities in years. There's Jamie Foxx digging into Django's transformation from slave to honorary bounty hunter. And there's Leonardo DiCaprio being as smarmy and privileged as can be.
The footage looks beautiful but still has those Tarantino flourishes. Can another US director splatter blood on a pretty white landscape as nicely as Tarantino? I don't think so.
Last time Tarantino went for a twist on history, he scored big. Inglourious Basterds netted seven Academy Award nominations for rewriting the history of WWII by way of melodrama and long tight dialogue scenes. Will Django Unchained provoke a similar reaction with darkest chapter in American history? We'll see when it comes out on Christmas day, 2012.
Thoughts? I'm most curious about the editing of the picture after the unexpected passing of his long-time collaborator Sally Menke. What about you? Sound off below.