Jamie Foxx Confirms He Worked with Tarantino to Remove Traumatic Rape Scene from ‘Django Unchained’ for Kerry Washington’s Protection

Jamie Foxx has confirmed Kerry Washington’s account of a rape scene involving her character Broomhilda being removed from Quentin Tarantino’s original script for Django Unchained.

In his 2023 memoir Thicker Than Water, Foxx described a “terrifyingly brutal rape scene” that Tarantino cut at the last minute after Foxx advised Washington, an approach she felt reflected his concern. He later referred to the removal as “the answer to the prayers I had been whispering.”

During a recent episode of the podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, Foxx corroborated the story, framing it as a collaborative decision. He explained, “If you read the script, Broomhilda and Django get raped. But once we got together—Quentin, me, and Kerry—we wanted to protect Kerry Washington. Movies are forever; once a scene is out there, it can’t be taken back.”

Foxx further noted, “We wanted to ensure we protected Olivia Pope,” alluding to her role on Scandal, which was about to launch. “I told him, ‘She’s about to have this show; we need to safeguard her,’ and Tarantino agreed. As a result, those extreme elements were omitted from the final script.”

Foxx praised Tarantino as a “great leader,” and Washington has also expressed appreciation for the film. At a June screening (as reported by IndieWire), she reflected on her role: “Being the princess in the tower in this movie was an extraordinary act of forcing people to see our humanity, at a time when our humanity was denied. I knew that’s what Quentin was doing, and he and I talked about it, and it felt really important.”

Source link