Quentin Tarantino continues his slide away from visceral and violent crime dramas toward violent historical fare with ‘Django Unchained’, his spaghetti-western influenced followup to ‘Inglorious Basterds’. The film, which trains its focus on the southern slave trade of the pre-Civil War era, is still in production, but EW has the first two stills of stars Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, and a hammer wielding Leonardo DiCaprio as well as a brief interview with Mr. Foxx.

In the interview, Foxx talks about his characters plan to rescue his wife from the clutches of DiCaprio’s evil plantation owner (as if there were another kind), and also praises Tarantino and the way that he takes on the exceptionally sensitive issue of slavery.

“There’s a beautiful way [Tarantino] found for the characters to talk to each other. It’s mind-blowing. You’ve never heard it this way,” the Oscar winner says. “You’ve seen movies deal with slavery — or westerns that never dealt with slavery — do it the safe way. This way is like…wow.”

The actor also talks up his relationship with Waltz’ character in the film, the German dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz.

“Christoph’s character is a little aloof to what slavery actually is. He’s not familiar with everything, and when he sees atrocities, it’s Greek to him,” says Foxx. “But Django lets him know this is the way the world is and we got to get used to it. He teaches Django certain things he needs to become a whole man, and [Django] also teaches Christoph that when life deals you these cards, here’s what you’ve got to do.”

‘Django Unchained’ premiers on December 25th, here’s a look at the official synopsis.

Set in the South two years before the Civil War, “Django Unchained” stars Academy Award®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.

Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.

Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation where slaves are groomed by trainer Ace Woody (Kurt Russell) to battle each other for sport. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival…

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