Django Unchained

Prey takes place in the Prime timeline in the Val Verde Cinematic Universe in 1719P. Related characters, places, and movies include:

## Django Unchained

### Produced by

Stacey SherReginald Hudlin

Pilar Savone

## Movie Overview

***Django Unchained*** is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles. Set in the Old West and Antebellum South, it is a highly stylized, heavily revisionist tribute to Spaghetti Westerns, in particular the 1966 Italian film *Django* by Sergio Corbucci (the star of which, Franco Nero, has a cameo appearance). The story follows a black slave who trains under a German bounty hunter with the ultimate goal of reuniting with his long-lost wife.

During the 2012 Comic-Con panel, Quentin Tarantino revealed that Broomhilda and Django are Both the great-great-great-great grandparents of John Shaft from the Shaft movie series. However, John Shaft II has a striking resemblance to Stephen from the movie; Both are played by Samuel L. Jackson. I think we can assume that Shaft's heritage comes actually from Stephen and Not Django, as Broomhilda could have been raped by Stephen before reuniting with Django. There is scene in the movie that alludes to Broomhilda being sexually abused while at Candyland before Django rescued her. Samual L. Jackson also appears in Die Hard 2 and Coming to America whose character could as well be descendants of this union.

Jamie Fox reprises his roll as Django in the movie A Million Ways to Die in the West. In a pre-credits scene, the proprietor of the racist shooting game called "Runaway Slave" at the fair asks who would like to take a shot. **Django Freeman** steps up and shoots the man dead. He then says: "people die at the fair," which Albert had previously observed after a snake-oil salesman at the fair was gored by a runaway bull. This echoes the running gag in the film as to all the dangers of the Old West. This film is set in 1882P, 23 years after the final events of Django Unchained. It would not be out of the question for Django to be placed in Arizona in 1882P for some reason or another.

## Val Verde Cinematic Universe Connections

Django takes place in the Prime timeline in the Val Verde Cinematic Universe in 1858P-1859P.

##### Definitive Connections

1. Django Freedman played by Jamie Foxx appears in A Million Ways to Die in the West.
2. Broomhilda von Shaft played by Kerry Washington is the Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother of John Shaft played by Richard Roundtree and the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother of John Shaft II played by Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft (2000) and Shaft (2019) and the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother of JJ Shaft played by Jessie T. Usher in Shaft (2019).

##### Strong Connection

1. Broomhilda Von Shaft is also Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother of Zeus Carver from Die Hard 3 and The Hold-Up Man in Coming to America.
2. Stephen played by Samuel L. Jackson is the biological Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather of John Shaft played by Richard Roundtree and the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather of John Shaft II played by Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft (2000) and Shaft (2019) and the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather of JJ Shaft played by Jessie T. Usher in Shaft (2019). He is also the biological Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother of Zeus Carver from Die Hard 3 and The Hold-Up Man in Coming to America.

##### Conjecture

1. Amerigo Vessepi played by Franco Nero is the Great-Great-Grandfather of General Ramon Esperanza in Die Hard 2
2. Billy Crash played by Walter Coggins is the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather of Stans Crash in Predators.

## Plot (P)

In 1858 Texas, brothers Ace and Dicky Speck drive a group of shackled black slaves on foot. Among them is Django, sold off and separated from his wife Broomhilda von Shaft, a house slave who speaks German and English. They are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter seeking to buy Django for his knowledge of the three outlaw Brittle brothers, overseers at the plantation of Django's previous owner and for whom Schultz has a warrant. When Ace refuses to sell Django to Schultz and cocks his gun, Schultz kills him and shoots Dicky's horse in order to pin him to the ground; he advises the freed slaves to take the opportunity for revenge. Schultz offers Django his freedom and $75 in exchange for help tracking down the Brittles.

Django and Schultz kill the Brittle brothers at Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett's Tennessee plantation. In turn, Bennett pursues them with an armed posse. Schultz ambushes the posse with explosives and Django kills Bennett. Feeling responsible for Django, Schultz agrees to help him find and rescue Broomhilda. They return to Texas where Django collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill as a memento and for good luck. He and Schultz rack up several bounties before spring when they travel to Mississippi and learn that Broomhilda's new owner is a member of the American gentry Calvin J. Candie, the charming but cruel owner of the "Candyland" plantation, where male slaves are forced to wrestle to the death in brutal "Mandingo" fights.

Schultz and Django hatch a plan: deciding that Candie will refuse to sell Broomhilda if they try to buy her upfront, they will instead offer $12,000 (equivalent to $406,000 in 2022) for one of his best fighters as a pretext to acquiring Broomhilda for a nominal sum. They meet Candie at his gentlemen's club and make the offer. Intrigued, Candie invites them to Candyland. En route, the group encounters Candie's slave trackerswho have cornered D'Artagnan, an escapee Mandingo fighter. Django is forced to intervene when Schultz foolishly attempts to buy D'Artagnan on the spot to save him. Candie has the trackers' guard dogs maul D'Artagnan to death, visibly upsetting Schultz.

Having told Broomhilda of their plan, Schultz offers to buy her as his escort while negotiating the initial Mandingo deal during dinner. Candie's staunchly loyal and suspicious head house slave Stephen realizes that Broomhilda knows Django, deduces their plan, and alerts Candie. Enraged, Candie alters the deal at gunpoint to sell Broomhilda for $12,000 instead of the fighter; Schultz reluctantly agrees. During the sale's finalization, Candie threatens to kill Broomhilda if Schultz does not shake his hand to seal the deal. Having had enough of Candie's arrogance, Schultz shoots and kills Candie. Butch Pooch, Candie's bodyguard, kills Schultz, and Django kills Pooch, Candie's lawyer Leonide Moguy, and several of Candie's henchmen, but is forced to surrender when Broomhilda is taken hostage.

The next morning, the chained Django is tortured and about to be castrated by overseer Billy Crash when Stephen arrives, informing him that Candie's sister Lara, who has taken charge of the plantation, has ordered him to be sold to a mining company and worked to death. Broomhilda was locked away in Candyland and raped by Stephen. In route to the mining company, Django devises an escape plan and uses his first handbill to prove to his escorts that he is a bounty hunter. He falsely says the men on the handbill, from his first bounty, are at Candyland and promises the escorts a share of the reward money. Once released, Django kills his escorts, gets his clothes and weapons back, and returns to Candyland with dynamite.

Recovering Broomhilda's freedom papers from Schultz's corpse, Django bids his deceased mentor goodbye and avenges him and D'Artagnan by killing the trackers. He then frees Broomhilda just as Candie's mourners return from his burial. At the mansion, Django kills Lara, Crash, and the remaining henchmen, releases the two remaining house slaves, and kneecaps Stephen before igniting the dynamite he had planted throughout the mansion. Django and Broomhilda watch from a distance as the mansion explodes before riding off together.

## Cast

* Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman
* Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz
* Leonardo DiCaprio as "Monsieur" Calvin J. Candie
* Kerry Washington as Broomhilda "Hildi" von Shaft
* Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen Warren
* Walton Goggins as Billy Crash
* Dennis Christopher as Leonide "Leo" Moguy
* James Remar as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
* David Steen as Mr. Stonecipher
* Dana Gourrier as Cora
* Nichole Galicia as Sheba
* Laura Cayouette as Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly
* Ato Essandoh as D'Artagnan
* Sammi Rotibi as Rodney
* Clay Donahue Fontenot as Luigi
* Escalante Lundy as Big Fred
* Miriam F. Glover as Betina
* Don Johnson as Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett
* Franco Nero as Amerigo Vessepi