Writer-director Quentin Tarantino has been slowly putting together a solid cast for his upcoming "Southern" Django Unchained, which follows Jamie Foxx as a freed slave determined to rescue his wife from a sadistic slave owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). Tarantino recently added his Deathproof actor Kurt Russell to the cast as evil slave trainer Ace Woody, replacing Kevin Costner who recently dropped out, as well as Kill Bill, Vol. 2's Laura Cayouette as DiCaprio's widowed sister.
Deadline reports that the latest addition to the cast is Don Johnson, who will play a wealthy plantation owner named Spencer Bennett. Casting a veteran actor who hasn't been in many recent high-profile projects is typical of Tarantino, who rejuvenated the careers of actors like John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) and Robert Forster (Jackie Brown). Johnson recently appeared as the villainous Von Stillman in...
last year's Machete, directed by Tarantino's friend and frequent collaborator Robert Rodriguez.
Johnson joins a cast filled with Tarantino alumni, including Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz. Django is set to start shooting in November, and has been given a release date of December 25, 2012.