Kerry Washington once explained that she requires some pretty serious therapy to be able to act in so many diverse and challenging roles. And by the looks of her scenes in 'Django Unchained' with Leonardo DiCaprio, that's some serious fodder for therapy.
After all, there's a scene in which Leo's character (Calvin) smears blood on Kerry's character (Hildi). And fans happen to think it was real blood from Leo -- but why do they think that? The bigger question, of course, is whether the blood is real or not.
Fans on Reddit are divided. Some say that Leo really did smear his actual blood on Kerry. Here's why: it's been widely publicized that Leonardo really smashed his hand down on a piece of glass on the table and drew blood. Ever the professional, Leo continued with his epic monologue while his hand bled all over the place, seemingly unfazed.
And while the scene wasn't intentional -- the "small stemmed glass" broke by accident, says IMDb -- everyone loved it. When Quentin Tarantino called "cut," the entire crew clapped and the director was so impressed, he kept the improvised scene for the final footage.
But when it came to shooting the scene where Calvin smears blood on Hildi? That wasn't quite what it seemed, says IMDb. It's true that Leo's real-life blood inspired the following scene, but it wasn't really his blood that was used. Although, by the looks of it, there would've been plenty had they wanted to apply the real thing.
IMDb trivia confirms that Leonardo DiCaprio had the idea to use some blood to smear on Hildi's face for effect. But this was after he had cut his hand, been bandaged up, and the cast was ready for the next scene.
Quentin agreed it was a great idea for the film, so they got some fake blood together as a prop and then filmed the other momentous scene with that. Who knows how many takes that one took, but no, it wasn't real blood being smeared all over Kerry Washington's face.
Although, with someone like Leo as the lead and Quentin Tarantino as the director, she probably wouldn't have been surprised if it was. Leo's known for immersing himself into his roles; he even ate meat for one gig, though he's a vegetarian in real life.
And Quentin's known for being totally extra when it comes to getting the right shot. But he's also totally on board with actors taking things in their own direction and improvising for the improvement of the film.
Fortunately, that's exactly what happened with 'Django Unchained,' as epically as that footage turned out.
