It’s always a touch difficult to contextualize news that’s dropped from a tweet, but if Variety’s Justin Kroll <140 character news dump is to be believed, Kevin Costner has been over-scheduled right out of Tarantino’s next film. Kroll is the same writer who broke the last bit of Django Unchained casting news, which was the much happier notice that Deadwood star Gerald McRaney was joining on.

Costner was set to play a wicked man who trains slaves to fight one another in events that provide entertainment and betting opportunities for the rich slave owners like Leonardo Dicaprio’s character. There’s no real reason to think it’s the pressure of the character itself that drove Kostner out, as it could be any of his many projects that turned out to be the immovable object. Keep in mind we’ll be seeing him as Pa Kent in Man of Steel, and many months ago he put together a WWII-based directorial project that has yet to manifest. Perhaps all the money and scheduling for that has come together at the most inconvenient time possible, and he has to jump on it? That would be pretty typical.

So, any ideas on who could best hop in for Costner? Who would you like to take a turn on the bad side, with a promise that sweet justice will likely be enacted?

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