Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia has joined the cast of Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film Django Unchained.
The spaghetti western film, which is set for release at the end of 2012, follows the fortunes of a slave-turned-bounty hunter, Django (Jamie Foxx), as he attempts to free his wife from slavery.
According to Deadline, LaPaglia will play the leader of a band of dastardly Australian slave traders who encounter Django while they are in the process of escorting a group of slaves across the country. Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play his brother.
The cast also includes Leonardo Di Caprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson. It will be the director's first film since 2009's Inglorious Basterds.
LaPaglia, who recently wrapped filming on P.J Hogan's Mental, told Deadline the script, which was also written by Tarantino, is "wildly ambitious and imaginitive."
Having returned to film only recently, after seven seasons of crime drama Without A Trace, LaPaglia told Deadline that conditions for actors working in film have deteriorated, and that this could be why many experienced actors are turning to TV series.
"When you work for studios, the majority of the acting budget goes to the handful of megastars," he said. "And what is left is surprisingly small, and surprisingly non-negotiable."
Read the rest of the interview here