Will Smith and Idris Elba battle for the same role in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/05/31/2011-05-31_will_smith_and_idris_elba_battle_for_the_same_role_in_quentin_tarantinos_django_.html#ixzz1O27Q9HHt

Has Will Smith lost a career-changing film role?

Although the actor was reportedly a shoe-in for the lead in Quentin Tarantino's buzzed-about "Django Unchained," another actor seems to think he's nailed the part.

Idris Elba, who starred on the HBO series "The Wire," posted a series of Tweets on Sunday hinting the role was within his grasp, not Smith's.

"Having one of the biggest meetings of my professional life today," wrote Elba. "meeting a very controversial director for a very controversial part."

Almost immediately, followers speculated that he was referring to "Django Unchained," about a freed slave who enlists the help of a German bounty hunter to find his wife, a slave, and free her from her evil plantation owner.