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Jamie Foxx: ex-con to ex-slave

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It’s time to laugh. Summer is in full swing, get out of the heat and laugh to your hearts content. Why not start with Jamie Foxx and “Horrible Bosses.”

We’ve all had those bosses who we just can’t stand, who seem to make it a point to make our lives miserable. For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con–that would be Jamie Foxx–the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly fool-proof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers … permanently.

There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them. Jason Bateman (“Couples Retreat”), Charlie Day (“Going the Distance”) and Jason Sudeikis (“Hall Pass”) star as the three hapless workers, with Jennifer Aniston (“He’s Just Not That Into You”), Colin Farrell (“Crazy Heart”) and two-time Oscar® winner Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty,” “The Usual Suspects”), as their unbearable bosses.

Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx (“Ray”) stars as the plotters’ unlikely mentor, whose street advice is priced on a sliding scale.

“Horrible Bosses”will be in theaters Friday, July 8.

Update: Jamie Foxx has apparently snagged the starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s much talked about spaghetti western/slavery revenge flick “Django Unchained.”

Variety recently reported that the likes of Idris Elba, Terrence Howard and Chris Tucker were all in the running, but Foxx is set to join the all-star cast of Leonardo DiCaprio (playing the plantation’s nasty owner, Calvin Candie) and Tarantino alumni, Samuel L. Jackson (a slave called Stephen, who carries out Candie’s evil wishes) and Christoph Waltz, who yet again plays a German. But this time, he’s on the side of good, as a bounty hunter who imparts wisdom and training to Django, so he can rescue his wife from the plantation. Kerry Washington, who starred opposite Foxx in “Ray,” is favored to get the gig.

“Django Unchained” is Tarantino’s homage to spaghetti westerns, and even takes its name from the 1966 film “Django” by Sergio Corbucci.

Tarantino has lined up an outstanding, award-winning, serious movie-making cast to make a film that will rival the 60’s era films where Blacks kicked butt with no apology.

Could Jamie Foxx’s Django character spawn a new hero? You do know that one third of the cowboys in the Old West were Black? And the courage, sound thinking, and fighting spirit that the Django character will display was the only way Black folks could live and survive not only in slavery but in the Old West too.

Gail can be reached at HollywoodbyChoice_gail@yahoo.com.

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