Sony co-financing DJANGO UNCHAINED and will distribute internationally

Earlier we reported that Will Smith was at the top of Quentin Tarantino's list for the lead role in Django Unchained. The report a former slave who tries to save his wife from an evil plantation owner. Tarantino has chosen Sony to co-finance and distribute the film overseas because of Smith's strong relationship with the studio. US distribution will be done by The Weinstein Company. It is looking as though Smith may be close to signing on for the lead. Casting is currently underway and production is slated to begin later this year for a 2012 release. 

Here's the previously released story description of the film:

Django is a freed slave, who, under the tutelage of a German bounty hunter becomes a bad-ass bounty hunter himself, and after assisting Waltz in taking down some bad guys for profit, is helped by Waltz in tracking down his slave wife and liberating her from an evil plantation owner. And that doesn’t even half begin to cover it! This film deals with racism as I’ve rarely seen it handled in a Hollywood film. While it’s 100 percent pure popcorn and revenge flick, it is pure genius in the way it takes on the evil slave owning south. Think of what he did with the Nazis in Inglorious and you’ll get a sense of what he’s doing with slave owners and slave overseers in this one.

I am loving the cast that is shaping up and think Smith would be a great addition to the cast. My only concern is that when I see him on-screen I may have trouble seeing him as the character of Django and instead keep thinking that Will Smith is on screen. Smith is a great actor, so I hope that he wil be able to escape into the character.

What are your thoughts on this news?