Will Smith could star in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained

Will Smith is the favourite for the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained , according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The box-office supernova, whose last screen appearance was in Seven Pounds , is Tarantino's favourite to star in the spaghetti western, although it's unclear if he has even read the script that has been sent to his reps yet.

According to sources at international distribution meetings QT has been attending, Smith is the director's top choice to play Django, a freed slave who seeks revenge on a plantation owner to save his slave wife.

The Hollywood Reporter mentions a couple of hinderances - the controversial nature of the expletive-laden script, Smith's financials - which could prevent the actor from joining.

If Smith does sign on, this could be a hell of a lot more interesting than the 'safe' fare that he's been associated with for so long now.

The prospect of an A-lister in the lead role is extremely tantalising too, considering what Tarantino did with Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds .

While Christoph Waltz has long been linked to the role of the German bounty hunter who trains Django, Samuel L. Jackson is said to be in talks to play the house slave of Monsieur Calvin Candie, the picture's big bad.

We can't imagine it'll take much to get QT-collaborator Jackson to sign up for Django , even if he is pretty busy with Marvel at the moment.

Django Unchained is expected to shoot in the South in the Autumn.

Will Smith will next be seen in Men in Black III .

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.