Kevin Costner has become the latest actor to join the cast of Quentin Tarantino's Western Django Unchained.

The actor will make a rare turn as a villain, portraying Ace Woody, who trains the male slaves to fight for wealthy white men's entertainment on the Candyland ranch of Calvinn Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Ace Woody also turns the female slaves into prostitutes on the ranch, and is compared to Christoph Waltz's sadistic Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The story centers on Jamie Foxx's title character, who hires a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to find his missing wife. Samuel L. Jackson also stars in Django Unchained.

Quentin Tarantino is directing Django Unchained from his own original screenplay. It isn't known when production will start yet, although a release date has already been set for December 25, 2012. Kevin Costner will likely film his Ace Woody role after he wraps on Man of Steel, where he plays Pa Kent.