Jamie Foxx Reflects on Iconic Roles, Talks ‘Django Unchained’ Controversy with Leonardo DiCaprio

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Jamie Foxx revisited some of his most memorable roles, including his portrayal of the title character in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. The Oscar-winning actor shared a powerful behind-the-scenes moment involving co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who had a difficult time with the film’s use of the N-word.

Foxx recalled a moment during the script read-through when DiCaprio, who played the cruel slave owner Calvin Candie, abruptly stopped the reading. “Leo had a hard time saying the N-word,” Foxx said. “He said, ‘Hey, guys. Cut! I just can’t do this. This is not me.’”

It was then that Samuel L. Jackson, who portrayed Stephen, the house slave, gave DiCaprio a no-nonsense piece of advice: “Say that shit, motherfucker! It’s just another Tuesday. Fuck them.”

Foxx went on to share how he helped DiCaprio get into character. “I told Leo that in slavery days we would never talk to each other. I’m not your friend. I’m not Jamie Foxx. I’m Django,” Foxx explained. He also emphasized the importance of understanding the harsh realities of slavery to truly embody the role, adding that DiCaprio came back the next day ready to dive deep into his character.

DiCaprio later found himself embracing the challenge, and as Jackson has pointed out in the past, the use of the N-word in the film was a crucial part of telling the story accurately. Jackson, who has long defended Tarantino’s writing, expressed that the words in the script reflect the brutal reality of the time. “It’s not dishonest,” he said in an interview. “You can’t take away the way people talked back then.”

Foxx himself has always stood by the film’s script, telling Yahoo Entertainment that he understood the language used in Django Unchained. “The N-word was said 100 times, but I understood the text—that’s the way it was back in that time,” Foxx said.