Comic-Con 2012: ‘Django Unchained’ Panel

Looks like Quentin Tarantino's upcoming 'Django Unchained' is big enough to get its own own panel inside Comic-Con 2012's Hall H, which previously housed large panels by Disney, Sony and 'The Walking Dead,' to name just a few. Well, when you add names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson to Tarantino, it's bound to get some special attention.

In 'Django Unchained,' Foxx's character Django gets... well, "unchained" from slavery by a bounty hunter, who helps him free his enslaved wife from the evil plantation owner (DiCaprio). Tarantino brought the cast with him to San Diego Comic-Con's Hall H for a little meet and greet, as well as to reveal some highly desired info on his latest project.

The 'Django Unchained' Comic-Con 2012 panel is about to start, so check back here for all the latest updates as they become available.

UPDATE 10:51am PST - We're inside Hall H after an epic line and ready for Quentin Tarantino's first trip to Comic-Con. Stay tuned as the panel is almost ready to begin!

Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Don Johnson, Walton Goggins and Kerry Washington were all on hand at the 'Django Unchained' column where they brought with them 8-minutes of the movie to show to the excited audience. The footage played like a longer version of the trailer and, as Quentin explained, sets up the first half of the movie. We're taken from the beginning of the film when Django is still a slave to when he's rescued by Dr. Schultz (Waltz) and trained to become a bounty hunter.

The footage was brilliant and included a lot of new scenes you haven't seen in the trailers (though there was a lot of footage from the trailers in here). Leonardo DiCaprio looks appropriately evil with gnarly, browned teeth you may not have noticed in the trailers so far. The crowd went nuts for the footage and rightfully so - it's the best thing we've seen so far for 'Django' and it's only the first half.

After the footage, Quentin said that 'Django' was an idea he's been working on for over 13 years. He was actually researching a book on director Sergio Corbucci (1966's 'Django') when he finally broke the plot of 'Django' and got the script really going. The film is, obviously, inspired by the Franco Nero led 'Django' and Tarantino said he gave the cast some other films to watch to prep including 'The Flame of New Orleans,' 'The Spoilers' and 'Minnesota Clay.'

On getting cast in the film, Foxx said Tarantino was originally worried that he couldn't get to be the slave part of the character. There was no doubt he could play the badass bounty hunter, but could he be the broken, beaten down slave? Quentin told him he had to completely drop the ego and not be "Jamie Foxx" to be able to play Django.

Though he wouldn't reveal what it was, Waltz says there is a deep backstory to his character - Dr. King Schultz - that explains a lot of why he comes to rescue Django and why he was kicked out of Germany but none of that will actually make the film. It was just stuff Tarantino and Waltz spoke about prior to filming to help flesh out the role.

Speaking of the cast, Quentin says that Jonah Hill stars in one scene in the film, which Tarantino says is the funniest thing he's ever written. Strange to hear about a scene like that in a brutal, bloody fairy tale about slavery but Taranino compares it to the scene in 'Reservoir Dogs' when they're assigning the color-based names to the crew. (He also confirms the character Sasha Baron Cohen was set to play was written out of the film after Cohen was forced to drop out.)

When asked if there are any connections to the existing Tarantino universe, Quentin confirmed there is a character that connects to his previous films but he didn't want to reveal what is was and wanted people to find it for themselves when they see the film.

Finally, Tarantino was asked (of course) what's next and whether we'd be seeing a 'Kill Bill 3' and he said he has no plans for another 'Kill Bill' movie and because he still has a week of shooting left on 'Django' hasn't yet started to look to his next project.