Quentin Tarantino doesn't shy away from America's brutal and violent history while telling his story of Django Unchained. But during a highly emotionally scene, one of the actors on set got so into their character that they actually hurt themselves on accident. What audiences see on screen are the results of the injury the actor sustained during filming.
Acting is an art form that requires the right headspace to be able to pull off a convincing portrayal of any character. Actors need several takes to be able to get the perfect scene. Sometimes to reach the right level of intensity, an actor might need to lose themselves in their role. It becomes less about delivering lines and more about becoming the character, themself. That's exactly what happened on the set of Django Unchained when actor Leonardo DiCaprio slammed his hand so hard on a table that he crushed a crystal glassware dish. DiCaprio was so invested in the moment that he didn't look down at the table to see that a dish had been moved right into the spot where he had placed his hand in previous takes.
Leonardo DiCaprio is known for taking a wide variety of roles that allow the actor to explore new emotions and events in a challenging way. Ever since his role in the mega-blockbuster Titanic, the actor has been trying to break out of the public and media's perception of him as being a stereotypically good-looking male romantic lead. But since Titanic, DiCaprio has gone on to perform as some of the most incredible (and in this case, despicable) characters ever brought to life. In other words, this is another role of Leo's that people will be talking about for the next fifty years or more.
In Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the character Calvin Candie—a slave owner who DiCaprio describes as being "one of the most narcissistic, self-indulgent, racist, most despicable characters" he's ever read in his entire life. And anyone who watches the film will know exactly what he is talking about. It's safe to say that Calvin Candie is not someone who is in his right mind, so it makes sense for him to lash out in an emotionally unstable way regardless of if he hurts himself in the process.
During the scene in question, DiCaprio's character reveals that he knows what Django's plan is; which is to rescue his wife from the sadistic slave owner. He yells out, bringing his hand up and slamming it right down on the glass, which breaks it and causes shards of crystal glass to cut open his hand. The actor doesn't stop in the middle of his performance and uses his bleeding hand to show just how crazy Calvin Candie is. Tarantino loved it, and DiCaprio suggested future takes where Candie smears his blood on Kerry Washington's character.
This was not planned in any way, which makes the scene that much more shocking to watch. Of course, this is now a fond memory of everyone involved in the filming, but the actor actually cut his hand badly enough to need stitches. DiCaprio said that he lost quite a bit of blood. He shocked everyone even himself when he opened his hand to find his own blood squirting from it. Perhaps in an exaggerated retelling, the actor said that the entire table was red and covered in his blood when the scene was finished. However, Leo does say that it will make for an exciting and cool story to tell his children one day.
Although this movie is very violent and has subject matter some viewers may find hard to watch, Django Unchained isn't making history up. The characters and story in the movie are not real-life characters, but their stories are not unheard of. Southern America in the 1850s was barbaric, especially in its treatment of African Americans. And the characters in the film show how some of the worst of the worst slave owners treated Black people. There are several scenes that show just how little slave owners thought of Black people. It is not without evidence to say that slave owners didn't even see them as people.
Fans of Quentin Tarantino's work know just how gruesome his films can be, and Django Unchained is no exception. In order to tell a good story, actors in Tarantino movies put themselves through a lot of stress both physical and emotional. This film stands above the rest for its over-the-top violent scenes that are necessary to the story and depiction of American history. Leonardo DiCaprio's depiction of one of the most disgusting people ever seen on screen will live on in infamy thanks to his commitment to portray his villainous character and not sugar-coat America's violent past.