Kurt Russell Joins Django Unchained

Scheduling conflicts have forced Kevin Costner to bow out of Quentin Tarantino's western, but his loss has prompted something of a Death Proof reunion: Django Unchained now looks set to welcome Kurt Russell to the recently vacated role of Ace Woody.

Russell played the murderous Stuntman Mike in Tarantino's muscle car exploitation slasher shocker, and will inhabit an almost equally unpleasant character if he signs on to Django. Woody is a sadistic plantation manager who relishes punishing slaves. He forms part of a villainous triumvirate with plantation owner Leonardo DiCaprio (who runs death-matches among his slaves), and Samuel L Jackson as the "head slave" loyal to DiCaprio.

Meanwhile, Laura Cayouette, who played Rocket in Kill Bill Vol. 2, has joined the cast as DiCaprio's widowed sister: a "Southern belle" who co-owns the plantation.

As you'll be well aware if you've been following so far, Django Unchained stars Jamie Fox as a freed slave who becomes a bounty hunter under the tutelage of Christoph Waltz, before heading to the DiCaprio plantation to liberate his slave wife. Gerald McRaney and Dennis Christopher are also appearing, and shooting starts in November, for a release at the end of 2012. ( Empire Online)