Jamie Foxx was too much for China! Django Unchained cancelled 'because of full-frontal male nudity'

Publish date: 2024-08-14

Jamie Foxx was just too much for China! Django Unchained was cancelled on first day despite all-clear from censors 'because scene contains full-frontal male nudity'

By Damien Gayle

Published: 08:56, 11 April 2013 | Updated: 17:31, 11 April 2013

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Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti western Django Unchained was pulled from Chinese cinemas on its opening day because one scene contains full-frontal male nudity, it was claimed today.

Cinemas throughout the country were ordered to suspend the film, which has been a blockbuster in the U.S. and the UK, even after it was given the all-clear by communist censors.

Employees at two outlets in Beijing said an order by the importer, China Film Group, cited an unspecified 'technical' problem.

However, there were some suggestions on Chinese social media sites that the postponement was related to a nude scene featuring the film's lead actor, Jamie Foxx, it was reported by The Guardian.

The sudden decision comes despite weeks of promotion for the violent slave-revenge saga in China, which is now the world's second biggest movie market.

Slave revenge saga: Jamie Foxx plays the title role in Django Unchained, which has been pulled from Chinese cinemas on its opening day, despite weeks of promotion for the film in the country

Slave revenge saga: Jamie Foxx plays the title role in Django Unchained, which has been pulled from Chinese cinemas on its opening day, despite weeks of promotion for the film in the country

Too much for China: The film was apparently pulled because of this scene featuring a naked Jamie Foxx being hung upside down while being tortured

Too much for China: The film was apparently pulled because of this scene featuring a naked Jamie Foxx being hung upside down while being tortured

The employees would not give their full names and calls to China Film Group and the government's film regulatory agency were unanswered, the Associated Press reported.

Some violent scenes had already been cut from Django Unchained to get it passed China's rigorous censorship.

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Violence, sex and politically edgy content rarely make it onto Chinese cinema screens.

Tarantino himself was said to be overseeing the process of dulling the colour of blood splatters and lowering their frequency, according to the Guardian.

Director Quentin Tarantino in his cameo: The decision to pull the film comes even after Tarantino oversaw a process of toning down some of Django's more violent scenes to get it past China's strict censorship

Director Quentin Tarantino in his cameo: The decision to pull the film comes even after Tarantino oversaw a process of toning down some of Django's more violent scenes to get it past China's strict censorship

A spokesman for the Chinese branch of Sony, the film's distributor, told the Southern Metropolis Daily: 'These slight adjustments will not affect the basic quality of the film – such as tuning the blood to a darker colour, or lowering the height of the splatter of blood.

'Quentin knew how to adjust that, and it's necessary that he is the one to do it. You can give him suggestions, but it must be him who does [the tuning].'

With such an exacting system in place the suspension of a film's Chinese première date is unusual.

It's not the first Django Unchained première to be postponed.

The film, which stars Jamie Foxx in the title role, is so violent that the production company behind it decided to cancel its Hollywood premiere in December out of respect to the victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre.

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