Kurt Russell joins cast of Django Unchained

After working together on Grindhouse, veteran actor Kurt Rusell and cult director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill), have reunited for Django Unchained, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Russell, 60, will be replacing Kevin Costner, who withdrew from the production due to scheduling conflicts, for the role of Ace Woody, the sadistic manager of a slave-owner’s cotton plantation.

Russell joins a star-studded cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson, who have all signed on with the Oscar-winning director for his latest tale of violence and revenge.

Django Unchained is a spaghetti western set in the American Deep South, and tells the story of a German bounty hunter (Waltz) and his protégé, a slave-turned-bounty hunter (Foxx), who journey to rescue his slave wife, held captive by a plantation owner.

Filming is scheduled to begin this November, for a release next December 25, 2012.

Russell appeared as villain Stuntman Mike in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof segment of the film Grindhouse.