Sacha Baron Cohen and Kurt Russell leave Django Unchained

Sacha Baron Cohen and Kurt Russell are no longer appearing in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Django Unchained, according to US reports.

Baron Cohen had been due to make his debut for the Pulp Fiction director in his much-hyped 19th-century Deep South-set follow up to Inglourious Basterds, cameoing in the role of Scotty Harmony, a gambler who buys the title character's enslaved wife as a companion. However, the British comic has had to pass due to commitments for the press tour of his new film The Dictator.

Russell, who starred in Tarantino's Death Proof, was due to play a villain named Ace Woody who trains slaves to fight each other for public amusement. Much of Django Unchained takes place at a plantation named Candyland, where owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) presides over a horrors how of racist sadism.

Russell's departure has led to speculation in the blogosphere that the role is something of a poisoned chalice as the same part was originally due to be played by Kevin Costner, who also quit. The latest switch is, however, good news for fans of Justified's Walton Goggins, whose role is to be expanded to include Woody's lines.

Tarantino confirmed last month that Django Unchained begins with German-born bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) freeing Jamie Foxx's title character and helping to train him in combat so that he can return to the plantation where his wife is incarcerated in the hope of liberating her. The film is inspired by the spaghetti western subgenre and takes its name from Sergio Corbucci's 1966 film Django, though it is not known how much of the storyline will be borrowed from its predecessor. Django Unchained, which is still filming in New Orleans, is due out on Christmas Day in the US and 18 January in the UK.