First official images from Quentin Tarantino’s western epic Django Unchained

Fans got a view of the teaser poster for Quentin Tarantino’s western Django Unchained a few weeks ago, and now Entertainment Weekly has revealed the first official images from the upcoming Spaghetti Western, which is set for release in North America on Christmas Day and then in the UK on January 18th, 2013.

First is an image of Django himself, Jamie Foxx, whom Foxx describes as “Richard Roundtree meets Clint Eastwood,” along with his mentor, German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

Next is Leonardo DiCaprio as the villainous plantation owner Calvin Candie.

Django Unchained is a pre-Civil War tale that sees the freed slave Django joining forces with Schultz to search for his wife Broomhilda (played by Kerry Washington), a path that leads them to Candie’s infamous ‘Candyland’ plantation, where slaves are groomed to battle each other for sport.

Joining Foxx, Waltz, DiCaprio and Washington in the cast are Kurt Russell (Death Proof), RZA (G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Sacha Baron Cohen (The Dictator), Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers), Walton Goggins (The Shield), Don Johnson (Machete), James Remar (Dexter), James Russo (Public Enemies), M. C. Gainey (Lost), Tom Savini (Planet Terror) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace).

Below is a look at the previously released teaser poster, in case you haven’t seen it.