News: Tarantino goes west... with Will Smith?

So now we know what Quentin Tarantino's next film will be, and he's staying in genre territory. Following up his war film Inglourious Basterds, "grindhouse" effort Death Proof, and martial arts/action/exploitation/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Kill Bill, he's heading to the Old West. Can he give the genre the same sort of shot in the arm that he's done before? Does it even need revitalising, the Coens' True Grit having recently become the most commercially successful Western since Dances With Wolves?

The title of the new opus: Django Unchained. That's a reference to trippy 1966 Spaghetti Western Django, directed by Sergio Corbucci. Tarantino's clearly got a liking for the character - he has himself appeared on screen in a film with Django in the title, the Japanese homage Sukiyaki Western Django. But if Basterds is anything to go by, Quentin's probably just using a name and going in a completely different direction with it than the original film. While it would be nice if he stopped his relentless referencing of other movies, there's no doubt he brings a lot of originality to the plate as well. What he could do with the Western is an exciting prospect.

The synopsis we've been given is this: the titular Django is a freed slave who teams with a German bounty hunter in order to reunite with his wife, and take down an evil plantation owner, Monsieur Calvin Candie. (Take it with a pinch of salt, bearing in mind that Basterds was not quite the men on a mission movie we were expecting.) According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tarantino wants Will Smith for the role - the Fresh Prince reportedly has the script and just needs to say yes. If he does, it would not only be quite a coup for QT - getting the biggest, and perhaps only, movie star in the world - but also (probably) give Smith an enjoyably complex role to chew on. Hopefully he'll ignore the fact that his only other venture into the west didn't turn out too well. (*Cough* Wild Wild West.)

Other cast names circling are Tarantino chums Christoph Waltz - pretty much certain as the aforementioned German bounty hunter, and who would probably do anything for the director after a certain Hans Landa won him the Oscar - and the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson, as another slave.

Basterds had an impressively quick turn around time, so if this does get the go ahead, expect it to reach fruition - and perhaps the Cannes Film Festival - in about a year's time.