Jamie Foxx convinced Quentin Tarantino to cut Django Unchained's scripted rape scene 

Quentin Tarantino may have final cut over his movies, but that won’t stop Jamie Foxx from making changes before cameras roll. Appearing on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast (via The Daily Beast), Foxx tells Palmer he went out of his way to “make sure that we protected Olivia Pope” while filming 2012’s Django Unchained. In Django, Foxx stars as the titular hero, an enslaved man who works with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from her shackles on Leonardo DiCaprio’s plantation. Foxx explains that he knows “about Quentin, what he put in his script, he don’t always shoot that.” In this case, Django‘s script includes a scene where “Broomhilda and Django get raped.” Foxx continues, “Once we got together, Quentin and I and Kerry—we wanted to protect Kerry Washington. Why? Because movies are forever. Meaning that if there is some bombastic scene, you can’t take it out and it’s forever.” Another factor? Scandal was going to premiere soon after Django wrapped shooting. 

“We wanted to make sure that we protected Olivia Pope,” Foxx said. “And at that time, [Scandal] wasn’t out yet, but I said, ‘Hey, she’s going to have this show, and we want to protect her, and he was with it.'”

You don’t often hear about actors standing up to Tarantino. Earlier this year, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood star Bruce Dern claimed things got heated on set when star Brad Pitt called “cut” for the director. Tarantino responded, “‘Never again in your life will you ever cut a camera or you’ll be dead in this business. That’s my domain.'” But to Foxx, “You got to be vocal and not be afraid.” So the Oscar winner encouraged Tarantino to beef up Broomhilda’s character. “I’ll only say this because we have a great leader. I said, ‘QT, when I read the script, the only thing that I see is Django. He ain’t trying to cure slavery, but he loves his woman. So right now, in the script, his woman ain’t in there enough.” Tarantino “accommodated” by “throw[ing] some more of Broomhilda” in. Foxx continues: