With his latest movie The Hateful Eight in theaters now, Tarantino is being sued for copyright infringement by writers Oscar Colvin Jr. and Torrrance J. Colvin for allegedly lifting the characters and story of Django Unchained (2012) from their screenplay, Freedom.
Django Unchained starred Jamie Foxx as a former slave in the antebellum South who frees his wife and exacts bloody revenge upon her owners with the help of a white bounty hunter, played by Christoph Waltz. The movie was a huge success: It made over $425 million worldwide, becoming Tarantino’s biggest box office success, and was nominated for five Oscars, winning two.
The writers claim they submitted Freedom to the prominent William Morris Agency, which touted Tarantino as a possible collaborator, and that they “provided the heart, bones and muscles to develop the unique idea that eventually would be transformed into Django Unchained.”