Django Unchained back in China

The movie starring Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx as Django has returned to Chinese theatres with one minute cut from the film by censors. Picture: AP/ Andrew Cooper Source: Supplied

QUENTIN Tarantino's violent slave-revenge movie Django Unchained has returned to Chinese theaters, a month after it was pulled on opening day.

The rare suspension order for unspecified "technical reasons" on April 11 by the movie's importer, China Film Group Corp., led to speculation that the Hollywood film had run afoul of Chinese censors despite weeks of promotion.

Django Unchained reportedly already had some violent scenes cut and had been cleared by China's rigorous censors, who generally remove violence, sex and politically edgy content.

"The new version is one minute shorter than the previous one," said a manager at a UME Cineplex cinema in Beijing.

The manager, who gave only his surname, Wang, speculated that a nude scene might have been cut. Calls to China's regulatory agency, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, were not answered.

Django Unchained, which won two Oscars, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a plantation owner and Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who trains to become a bounty hunter and demands his wife's freedom before the U.S. Civil War.

China has become the second-biggest movie market behind the U.S. with sales of $2.7 billion last year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. While Hollywood is eager for a slice of this market, directors are having to accept the altering of their movies if they show China in a bad light, or to make them suitable for all ages in the absence of a classification system in China.

Earlier this year, some Chinese moviegoers were left confused because of awkward cuts to the James Bond feature Skyfall that included unflattering references to the sex trade in the Chinese territory of Macau.

Then Cloud Atlas was shown in Chinese cinemas minus 38 minutes that included gay and straight love scenes.

China is even getting American studios to sanction alternative versions of films specially tailored for Chinese audiences, such as Iron Man 3.

The Chinese version features local heartthrob Fan Bingbing - absent from the version showing abroad - and lengthy clips of Chinese scenery.

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Django Unchained pulled after premiere

Christoph Waltz as Schultz, left, and Jamie Foxx as Django in "Django Unchained," directed by Quentin Tarantino. Source: AP

Django Unchained became Django Unscreened as Quentin Tarantino's movie was pulled from Chinese theatres on opening day.

The rare suspension order by China Film Group Corp. was confirmed by theatre employees throughout China, and has led to speculation that the Hollywood film could have run afoul of Chinese censors despite weeks of promotion in the country.

Calls to the importer and to China's regulatory agency, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television, were unanswered. The China office of Sony Pictures, which released the film, refused to comment.

Django Unchained reportedly cut some violent scenes and had already been cleared by China's rigorous censors, who generally remove violence, sex and politically edgy content. With such an exacting system, suspension on a film's premiere date is unusual.

Tian Zaixing, general manager of the Beichen Fortune Centre movie theatre in the southern city of Kunming, said he could not recall any other imported film being halted on the opening day. The order from China Film Group came in a phone call around 10am, he said.

"We were excited about the film yesterday," he said. "We had had high expectations for this film's box office."

Mr Tian said he had hoped the movie would bring about one-tenth of the monthly box office, or about 150,000 yuan ($22,800), to his six-screen theatre in April. Now, he must scramble to fill newly opened slots for screening.

"This means we might not be able to meet our box-office goal for the year," Mr Tian said.

The cited technical reason might only be a ruse, said Mr Tian, who was unable to provide an alternative explanation.

He dismissed speculation that a nude scene was the offending culprit.

"The censors have sharper eyes than we do," Mr Tian said. "Shouldn't they have already spotted it?" He added the scene was not lewd at all but powerful in making the audience sympathetic toward one character.

The film stars actors well-known to the Chinese audience: Leonardo DiCaprio as a plantation owner and Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who trains to become a bounty hunter and demands his wife's freedom.

It made more than $US160 million ($152 million) at the North American box office and has proved successful overseas as well. China has risen to the second-biggest movie market with sales of $US2.7 billion last year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

A man who is on the official promotional team for the film but refused to give his name because of the perceived sensibility of the issue said there had been no prior warning about the suspension and that the film's midnight premiere was unaffected.

Photographer Xue Yutao said he was about one minute into the movie at a Beijing theatre on Thursday morning when a couple of theatre employees walked in and told the audience that the screening would be postponed. The announcer did not give a reason or say when the movie would be re-shown, Mr Xue said.

"It was so sudden. I was very shocked," Mr Xue said. "How could this be possible? Something like this has never happened before."

Mr Xue said he resorted to a pirated copy of the film and did not see anything that would have offended Chinese censors.

"I'm not a noble man," the photographer said of his viewing of pirated movies. "I would still prefer to see it in the theatre"
 

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Why Will Smith turned down Django role

Will Smith turned down a role in Django Unchained. Picture: Splash Source: news.com.au

Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino. Picture: AP Source: Supplied

IT was nominated for five Oscars, grossed over $413 million in theaters worldwide and was Quentin Tarantino's most successful film to date, but Will Smith didn't want to be a part of it.

Smith has revealed he turned down the part of Django Freeman - played by Jamie Foxx - because it was not the lead role in the film.

"Django wasn’t the lead," he told Entertainment Weekly, "so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!"

The "other character" he was referring to was the bounty hunter - and Django's mentor - Dr. King Schultz played by Christoph Waltz.

Smith said he tried to convince director Quentin Tarantino to give Django a more central role in the film.

"I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"

While Django is the "emotional core" of the film, it is Waltz's character who kills the evil slave owner, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in the end.

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