A rare Comic-Con movie that’s not based on a comic-book property, or a fantasy novel, or a science-fiction concept, Django Unchained nevertheless drew in the crowds.

Quentin Tarantino was present in a fetching fedora and sunglasses combo, and he was joined by stars Jamie Foxx, Walton Goggins, Don Johnson, Christoph Waltz and Kerry Washington.

QT revealed that the idea for Django had been percolating in his head for some time. More than a decade, in fact. “I think it’s been about 13 years, altogether,” he told the crowd, adding, “I’ve always wanted to do a western. Spaghetti westerns have always been my favorite. The violence, the surrealism, the cool music and all that stuff. The initial germ of the whole idea was a slave who becomes a bounty hunter and then goes after overseers who are hiding out on plantations.”

Foxx talked about having to strip everything away to become slave Django, “The most important thing was letting everything go because we all have egos.” And after that it was a matter of doing the homework and listening to what QT was saying, apparently.

Waltz wasn’t really giving too much away, although he did suggest that Dr King Schulz might need Django for more than one reason.

Tarantino also revealed the character that Jonah Hill will be playing. He’s not taking on the vacant Sacha Baron Cohen role. Instead, he’ll be playing a slave-wrangling regulator. And the director dropped the pleasing suggestion that Django and Broomhilda are the “great great great great grandparents” of Shaft.

Hoping for some Kill Bill 3 goss from Comic-Con? An audience question brought up the topic, to which Tarantino claimed he’d wait 10 years (which still leaves two to go), but he did call KB3 “a work in progress”.

For more on Django Unchained, head to totalfilm.com/django-unchained