Update: In smaller, but related "Django Unchained" news, Deadline reports that character actor Todd Allen ("The Postman," "The Apostle," "48 HRS") has also joined the cast of Tarantino's film.
There's no doubt about it, Jonah Hill is busy, busy man. With "Moneyball" in theaters and getting prepped for an awards season journey, "21 Jump Street" on the way and "Allen Gregory" on Fox (a show he produces, co-writes and stars in) his calendar is jam packed. So much so, that he's had to turn down a role in one of 2012's most anticipated movies.
As it turns out, Hill revealed to MTV that Quentin Tarantino approached him for "Django Unchained" but with the shoot scheduled to start in January, he couldn't make the date work. "I got offered the new Quentin Tarantino movie, and I can't do it because of my schedule," he revealed discussing choosing roles in both comedies and dramas, adding, "Doing Quentin's movie would have obviously been amazing, but my schedule didn't work out, which sucks."
So it'll have to left to the What Could Have Been pile for now of interesting possibilities that never came to be. Hill doesn't reveal exactly which role he was being eyed, but we have a hunch it was Scotty Harmony, described in the script as an overweight 24 year-old whose father purchases the slave Broomhilda for him. Granted, Hill isn't exactly overweight any more, but he would've slotted in nicely (and it was one of our early casting suggestions — Quentin, have you been reading?). Or maybe he would've been one of the Australian brothers, with one of those roles going to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Either way, "Django Unchained" will move on with out him.
"Django Unchained" is getting read to ride ready to ride on Christmas Day 2012.