In Quentin Tarantino’s
explosive new film, “Django Unchained,” Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz
(“Inglourious Basterds”) stars as Dr. King Schultz, a bounty hunter who teams
with Jamie Foxx’s plantation slave, Django, as he seeks vengeance on his former
owners and attempts to rescue the wife (Kerry Washington) he’s lost to the
slave trade.
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures |
For
his searing performance in the film, Waltz already won the Best Supporting
Actor honors from the Golden Globes and BAFTA, and is nominated for the same
award at the Oscars. “Django Unchained” itself is vying for five Academy
Awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
Prior
to the awards season, Christoph Waltz talked about the experience of filming
“Django Unchained” in the following interview.
Question:
What was it like reteaming with Quentin Tarantino?
Christoph
Waltz: Well, it wasn’t really reteaming because the team spirit
stayed alive - it kind of bridged the gap between two movies. We were in constant
contact anyway and as this script sort of inched its way into the world, I was
allowed to take the occasional peek. I could follow what was happening…
Q:
I take it he wrote this part for you?
Waltz:
You’d
really have to ask Quentin Tarantino, that…. But kind of, yeah, I guess
(laughs)... That process helped me to kind of slowly, cautiously approach the
thing, to think about it in portions and not the whole big brunt of a part, you
know, wondering for a few weeks what will happen next. So it kind of drew me in
gradually. I prefer that than being hit over the head with something.
Q:
How did you prepare for the film – aside from growing that incredible beard?
Waltz:
It
was a very good beard. But growing beards is not really part of preparation.
Well, maybe it is (laughs)… who knows? I don’t really elaborate on what I do
and how I do it all that much… There is so much myth about ‘the actor’s
preparation,’ which is basically bulls--t, because everybody just does whatever
he can to get the ball rolling, the juices flowing, to start to understand
what’s required. You know, you read the script and you switch your brain on.
That’s what you basically do. I mean, that’s what I do.
Q:
What was it like working with Jamie Foxx? You guys have great chemistry
together.
Waltz:
Somebody
else mentioned this and I agree, absolutely. I mean, chemistry is really the
science of how elements are combined with each other in order to create
something new... And that’s really how it was. Because, you know, we’re very
different. Not just the background and the color of our skin, you know, but
everything is very different, as it should be. The combination is what makes
it. That’s why film is such a great medium. Because it’s really all about
composition – putting together different things, putting together details,
elements, materials, people, histories, melodies and rhythms...
Q:
What was the biggest challenge making the film?
Waltz:
For
me, that it was a very, very long enterprise. So far I’ve spent about a year
and a half with it. If you consider the promotional part of it, it will be two
years. And I’ve never done that before. I never have done anything of this
scale in terms of time.
Q:
It’s a very American story. Were there certain advantages in being an outsider,
an Austrian, when it came to approaching it?
Waltz:
Absolutely. It’s was a complete advantage of not having to even know about
slavery, the South and all these sinister things. You know, we have our own
sinister things. Slavery, thankfully, is not one of them.
Q:
What is about Quentin Tarantino’s films that audiences find so attractive?
Waltz: He
speaks to every single one of them individually. He doesn’t aim it as a target
audience. He does not satisfy a market segment. That’s for the promoters or
business people. He doesn’t share that perspective. He makes movies from his
heart to the heart of the spectator. And that’s why people love it.
Q:
And as an actor – what’s it like to be in one of his movies?
Waltz:
It’s hard work. And I love hard work. It requires everything that I have. I’m
not sure whether I have enough, but that’s a different discussion (laughs)... I
need to muster every little bit that I have at my disposal, you know, and throw
it in.
Q:
Do you share your ideas and give your input on set?
Waltz: No,
no, it’s his movie. That’s what I do and in a way I feel that’s what I do best
– make things work. Like the structural engineer. He’s not designing the house.
He’s working out how it holds up.
Q:
How would you describe your relationship with Quentin? Is it strictly
professional?
Waltz: No,
actually it’s more a personal friendship than professional. Which is a good
thing, because in a way it separates the two fields. When I work with him, I
work with him. When he’s the director, it’s his movie. He is different from any
other director in the world and he’s probably more of an auteur than any of the
other auteurs still alive. And so I completely concede that it is his movie…
I’m just there to try to supply the best material for his edit.
Q:
Final question. What’s it really like to win an Oscar?
Waltz:
It’s pretty nice (laughs).
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