Quentin Tarantino knew Jamie Foxx was the ideal man to play the titular character in 'Django Unchained'.

The 49-year-old director revealed he knew straight away that Jamie was the right man to portray the slave-turned-bounty hunter in the forthcoming western movie, despite speaking to five other actors.

He said: ''Jamie was the last one that I got together with and after I got together with him, I called the other guys up and I go, 'Look, I found my Django. And no disrespect and everything and we could have taken it further and I know...' But you just know when you meet the guy and I met the guy.

''And one of the things about him, aside from everything else about Jamie, just when it comes to this movie, he just got it. He just understood. He understood what I was writing, he understood what needed to be there and he understood what needed to be on screen and he understood how people should take it.

''I met six guys, six magnificent actors, but he was the cowboy and I was looking for the cowboy.''

Quentin also hinted he had auditioned 'Men In Black' actor Will Smith for the role, but after putting Jamie ''through the ringer'' he knew exactly who to choose for the job.

When asked if ''rumours a certain Man in Black'' had auditioned for the titular role in 'Django Unchained' were true, he added to Buzzline: ''When I wrote 'Django', I did not write it for anybody. I had no idea who was going to play it and it was kind of a little bit like, 'Gosh, who is going to play this guy?' And so I met with six different actors.

''The actor you're talking about was one of the people that I met with. And then I met with Jamie and he came over to my house and I was going to put him through the ringer.''