i think the "boyish eyes" thing that often doesn't work for him in heavier roles works incredibly well here as the boy king of candyland. i also think he's exactly the sort of actor-- dashing A-list star-- that would be cast as the southern gentleman/plantation owner in the typical "gone with the wind" type antebellum south glorifying film (thought don johnson also fit this mold really well). casting leo in the same role in django is kind of a nod to those films, while playing with our historical expectations of the role (oh, these guys were actually villains?). if you put a twitching, borderline-insane type in that role, it makes it seem like the issue here is this one sick, psychopathic slave owner who is so much unlike any other we've ever seen, and not slavery as an institution, not the antebellum south as we've always celebrated it.

as for the performance itself, i again ask the court to consider the scene where leo, with all the southern charm in the world, takes a saw to the skull of his father's most loyal slave. i thought that was one of the most remarkably well written and acted scenes of any this year.