“This is just another Tuesday, motherfucker”: how Leonardo DiCaprio conquered the most challenging scene of his career
The work and character of Quentin Tarantino has been faced with a variety of controversies over the years, whether it be his use of derogatory language that is all magically dismissed under the bracket of ‘creative license’, questionable portrayal of women and extreme historical revisionism.
However, despite these backlashes, he has a posse of actors he brings to each new venture, working repeatedly with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L Jackson. However, the explicit nature of the work really got to DiCaprio during one scene in particular, requiring an urgent pep talk from Jackson in order to get through the scene.
Django Unchained, released in 2012, is perhaps the most controversial of Tarantino’s entire filmography. It follows a freed slave who journeys to rescue his wife from a plantation owner with the help of a German bounty hunter. It was immediately met with trepidation and caution, and given that it’s a story about slaves being told by Tarantino, this is perfectly understandable, especially given how much the director loves using racist terminology at any chance he can get.
However, there was one scene that stood out to audiences and created the most qualms, with DiCaprio screaming at Foxx’s character and repeatedly using derogatory language, which the actor found extremely uncomfortable and told Foxx, “Pal, it’s tough for me to say this”.
After repeatedly botching the scene, Jackson had to step in, saying, “Get over here, motherf**ker, this is just another Tuesday motherf**ker. I don’t give a f**k about these motherf**kers, look at who I am, motherf**ker… we’re not friends, this is just another Thursday. This is your property. These aren’t humans. This is your property”.
After Jackson’s pep talk, DiCaprio apparently arrived at the set the next day with a completely different attitude. He did not speak to his cast mates and tried to immerse himself in the story’s time period.
When asked about the challenge of playing Candie, DiCaprio said, “It was this incredibly interesting horrific character. I mean, there was absolutely nothing about this man I could identify with. One of the pivotal moments for me was this initial read-through; I wondered if it needed to be this violent and this atrocious to other human beings, and it was Sam and Jamie who said, ‘If you sugarcoat this, people are going to resent the hell out of you. You got to push this guy to the outer extreme”.
Despite his struggles to get into character and commit to the horror of the history he was representing, DiCaprio was able to fully realise the brutality of this man and all that he stood for, going on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. However, the film still remains a sensitive subject among many Tarantino fans, with people divided over the director’s ease with using this language in his work and whether it truly is creative license or just an excuse, with the director exerting his ‘creative license’ in nearly all of his projects. At what point is it just a reflection of how he thinks? Where is the line?
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