New ‘Django’ Film From Franco Nero Gets Started

ROME — Nearly 50 years after he first strapped on a holster and mounted a horse in the original Django film, Franco Nero will reprise the role as the brooding, sharpshooting gunslinger in Django Lives.

The Django franchise, which includes more than 30 films, was introduced to a new generation of movie goers by Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, released a little over a year ago.

But it was Nero who created the iconic character in Sergio Corbucci‘s 1966 classic Django and in 1987’s Django Strikes Again, directed by Nello Rossati. The original inspired more than 30 other films with someone other than Nero in the lead role, culminating with Tarantino’s two-time Oscar winner, which starred Jamie Foxx in the title role. Nero, now 72, made a cameo in the Tarantino film.

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The original Django films were centerpieces of the Italy-based Spaghetti Western genre. 

The new film will be set in 1915, with Nero playing the role of an older Django working as a consultant to producers of silent movie westerns who gets involved with racketeers. Nero spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the project last year, then in the concept stage, calling it “the final chapter in Django’s story.”

The new film will be produced by U.S.-based Point Blank and directed by Joe D’Augustine, a frequent Tarantino collaborator. It will be D’Augustine’s second directorial effort. Producers have already selected actors Mark Boone Junior, Noah Segan, and Tomas Milian to appear alongside Nero. The production is estimated to have a $5 million budget.

Twitter: @EricJLyman