Jamie Foxx on playing a slave, Leo learning to say the 'N-word' - Los Angeles Times
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Jamie Foxx on playing a slave, Leo learning to say the ‘N-word’

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When you’re an Oscar-winning Hollywood star with a Range Rover and a closet full of Louis Vuitton, it’s not easy adopting the mind-set of a recently freed slave — just ask Jamie Foxx.

The actor paid a visit to “The Tonight Show” Wednesday to promote his new movie, the Quentin Tarantino-helmed revenge saga “Django Unchained.” As he told Jay Leno, getting into character was a bit of a challenge.

“That was tough for me, having to act like I can’t read, or having to be subservient to someone, or to hear the N-word over and over again,” Foxx said, recalling how Tarantino pulled him aside and said that unless he really went back to 1858, the movie wouldn’t work.

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But if it was hard for Foxx to hear the racial slur repeatedly, it wasn’t much easier for his costar, Leonardo DiCaprio, to utter it — even in character as a brutal plantation owner. “At one point he said, oh, buddy, this is tough,” Foxx recalled.

Luckily, Samuel L. Jackson — who’s never been a prude when it comes to language — stepped in with some advice. “[He] leans over to Leo and says, ‘Hey MF, this is just another Tuesday for us,’ ” Foxx said.

Message received, loud and clear.

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