Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained Has A Secret Connection To Another Movie

In addition to being one of the most acclaimed and influential filmmakers of the last 30 years, Quentin Tarantino is also notable for possessing encyclopedic knowledge of overall film history. The two-time Oscar-winning writer/director often uses his films as a canvas not just to express his artistic sensibilities, but also a chance to wax poetic about the major influences that have played an integral role in his development.

Much of Tarantino's filmography is connected within the same shared universe. Most notably, his breakout film "Reservoir Dogs" is set in the same continuity as "Pulp Fiction," given that the former features Victor "Vic" Vega/Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), while Vic's brother, Vincent Vega (John Travolta), is featured in the latter. Tarantino previously had plans for a Vega Brothers film that never saw the light of day. Interestingly enough, one of Tarantino's most acclaimed films, "Django Unchained," has a secret connection of its own — this time to a beloved blaxploitation film.

Quentin Tarantino's seventh entry in what he intends to be a 10-film career shares multiple links to other films. In particular, the film's protagonist is named after the title character of the 1966 spaghetti western, "Django." Franco Nero, who played the title character in that movie, makes a cameo appearance in Tarantino's film, sitting right next to Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx). However, one of the film's most interesting connections is found through Broomhilda "Hildi" von Shaft (Kerry Washington), Django's wife, who is held captive by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). What makes Hildi's name stick out is the fact that it is a direct reference to the 1971 film, "Shaft."

Based on Ernest Tidyman's novel of the same name, "Shaft" was directed by Gordon Parks and starred Richard Roundtree as private detective John Shaft, who's hired to rescue the daughter of a Harlem mobster from Italian mobsters who kidnapped her. Given that Roundtree's titular protagonist shares a surname with Kerry Washington's character from "Django Unchained," one can see this as nothing more than a reference honoring blaxploitation cinema, but Tarantino himself considers Hildi as one of John Shaft's ancestors, acknowledging as such in the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con Hall H presentation for his seventh film. Per Deadline, while acknowledging the connections to "Shaft," Tarantino began singing the film's theme song, which was recorded by Isaac Hayes and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972.

Kerry Washington's character sharing (a part of) John Shaft's last name is not the only link to "Shaft" that "Django Unchained" has. One of the film's stars, Samuel L. Jackson, portrayed the nephew of Richard Roundtree's character in the confusingly named 2000 sequel, "Shaft." Jackson would reprise the role in 2019's even more confusingly named "Shaft," where his character was retconned to be the son of Roundtree's John Shaft Sr. (Roundtree made his last appearance as the character in this film, four years before his passing).

Released on Christmas Day in 2012, "Django Unchained" became Quentin Tarantino's highest-grossing film, earning $426 million on a budget of $100 million. It received five nominations at the 85th Academy Awards, winning two for Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz), and Best Original Screenplay for Tarantino. These two wins were also the second Oscar wins for both Waltz and Tarantino.

Along with its references to spaghetti westerns and blaxploitation cinema, "Django Unchained" has had a surprisingly robust expansion beyond its original release. A comic book crossover featuring Django and Zorro was published in 2014, which spawned plans for a film adaptation that was being developed by Tarantino and Jerrod Carmichael. Jamie Foxx also made an uncredited cameo as Django Freeman in a post-credits scene for Seth MacFarlane's western comedy, "A Million Ways to Die in the West."