NEWSJamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson Reassured Leonardo DiCaprio When He 'Had a Hard Time' Saying Racial Slurs in 'Django Unchained'
'Django Unchained' won two of its five Academy Awards nominations.
Jamie Foxx shared a few behind-the-scenes tidbits from Django Unchained during a new interview.
More than a decade after the 2012 film hit theaters, the actor revealed that despite costar Leonardo DiCaprio's stellar performance, the Hollywood heartthrob struggled with the script due to his character's tendency to use racial slurs.
Jamie Foxx revealed Leonardo DiCaprio struggled with having to say racial slurs in 'Django Unchained.'
"The subject matter, the N-word specifically, Leo had a hard time saying the N-word," Foxx revealed to Vanity Fair. "We’re doing a read and Leo says [the N-word] and then he goes, 'Hey man, hey, guys cut. I just can’t do this. This is not me.'"
"Samuel L. Jackson [then says], ‘Say that s---, m-----f-----. It’s just another Tuesday, f--- them,'" Foxx spilled.
Foxx thinks DiCaprio deserved an Oscar for his performance in the 2012 movie.
The Ray lead, 57, also explained the lengths DiCaprio, 50, went to get into character,
"I said, ‘Leo, in slavery days, we would never talk to each other. So I’m not your friend. I’m not Jamie Foxx. I’m, you know, I’m Django...'" Foxx shared. "I said, ‘You won’t be able to play that character unless you really understand what slavery was about.' It was tough. It was horrific."
The Titanic star took his colleague's words to heart, and the next day, DiCaprio completely ignored Foxx on set.
"I see Leo. He walks in. I said, ‘Leo, what’s up? L, what’s up?’ He [didn’t] speak to me, he [was] ready," the dad-of-two recalled. "So everybody started, you know, digging in."
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Foxx said fellow costar Samuel L. Jackson helped reassure DiCaprio.
The Shazam! host went on to praise his pal's performance, declaring, "He should have gotten an Oscar. The way he would turn it on and turn it off — ‘Say action.’"
Foxx also complimented Jackson's part, joking the movie star, 76, is like "an alien" due to his out of this world talent.
"It was an all-star game," he raved of the cast.
Foxx's interview comes after a public hiatus, having made a full recovery following a mysterious 2023 illness that left him with a five percent chance to live.
The rapper recalled taking Advil for a bad headache, but the next thing he knew, he was waking up from a 20-day coma. It turned out he had a stroke and brain bleeding.
DiCaprio stopped speaking to Foxx on set to get into character.
At the 2025 Golden Globes earlier this month, he expressed his gratitude for life after the incident.
"You know how you take a picture on your cell phone and you hit that first filter and it brightens up? That’s the way life looks now. Everything is altered," he told a reporter. "When it actually happens to you, you appreciate it more, I appreciate these moments more. My two daughters in the back kept me alive … I’m just blessed, man."
