If you were listening to Howard Stern’s radio show on Tuesday you had the opportunity to hear something kind of rare, actor Sacha Baron Cohen being interviewed as himself. Typically when Cohen is promoting a film like Borat, Bruno or the soon to be released The Dictator, he only does interviews in character. Well, Stern had enough of that and wanted to interview the real guy.

During the interview Stern asked Cohen if he was still appearing in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, to which Cohen replied:

“That was going to be a cameo, but I had to drop out because of ['The Dictator''s] press tour.”

This makes Cohen one in a list of actors that includes Kevin Costner, Jonah Hill and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who seem to be shying away from the movie. Why? Probably because of the subject matter.

Here’s the synopsis for Django Unchained:

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 andSchultz’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…

I guess they don’t want to play evil slave owners in a film that is sure to be dark, violent and probably a little controversial.

Kurt Russel was cast to replace Costner, but now we get the following tweet from Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider):

EXCLUSIVE: First KEVIN COSTNER, and now KURT RUSSELL has EXITED the cast of QT’s DJANGO UNCHAINED. No reason given or replacement named…

Now Kurt Russell has also left the film?

I’ll tell you one thing, all of these actors, who at different points in their careers did not shy away from edgy or controversial material, leaving the film only makes me want to see it more.

What do you think?

Django Unchained hits theatres Christmas Day.

SOURCE: Jeff Sneider, Hitfix