Samuel L. Jackson is set to receive an Honorary Oscar later this month at the 2022 Governors Awards. The Governors Awards were pushed back from January due to covid and will now happen the Friday just before the Oscars ceremony. Elaine May and Liv Ullmann will also receive Honorary Oscars and Danny Glover is getting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Did you think Samuel already had an Oscar? I didn’t, because a limited number of Black actors have won them and he typically stars in the more commercial fare that the Oscars don’t typically award. Ahead of the awards events later this month, Samuel spoke to The Times about his previous Oscar nomination and the types of films and roles for Black actors the Academy typically recognizes.
Samuel L. Jackson has a message for the Academy and it has nothing to do with the current drama surrounding the reformatted 94th Academy Awards telecast. Instead, Jackson wants Oscar voters to know that he should have an Academy Award under his belt at this point in his career. Although Jackson is being recognized with an Honorary Oscar this year, he’s only ever received one Oscar nomination: best supporting actor in 1995 for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.”
“I should have won that one,” Jackson recently told The Times about his “Pulp Fiction” Oscar nomination. Jackson was nominated that year against Martin Landau (“Ed Wood”), Chazz Palminteri (“Bullets Over Broadway”), Paul Scofield (“Quiz Show”) and Gary Sinise (“Forrest Gump”). Landau was awarded the Oscar. Jackson said he missed out on another Oscar for “Jungle Fever,” for which he wasn’t even nominated. Two cast members from “Bugsy” broke into the race that year to Jackson’s disbelief.
“My wife and I went to see ‘Bugsy,’” Jackson said. “Damn! They got nominated and I didn’t? I guess Black folk usually win for doing despicable shit on screen. Like Denzel [Washington] for being a horrible cop in ‘Training Day.’ All the great stuff he did in uplifting roles like ‘Malcolm X?’ No — we’ll give it to this motherfucker. So maybe I should have won one. But Oscars don’t move the comma on your cheque — it’s about getting asses in seats and I’ve done a good job of doing that.”
Jackson noted that the Oscars should shine a greater spotlight on the films that get “asses in seats.” The Academy tried and failed to introduce a category for most popular film in 2018, but Jackson is in full support of the idea. The actor suggested that any year’s highest-grossing movie should be awarded an Oscar.
Aside from Forrest Gump, I’m not familiar with the competition from his Pulp Fiction nomination or Jungle Fever snub. But specifics aside, what Samuel says was and still is accurate. For a long time and perhaps to this day, the Academy was only comfortable recognizing Black actors and films that fit into a certain, very narrow, box. In addition to the “despicable” roles Samuel mentioned, the Academy usually nominated/awarded narratives of Black struggle and suffering. That’s why I found Mahershala Ali and Moonlight’s wins so refreshing — because that movie told a contemporary, slice-of-life, story instead of the depiction of historical racism the Academy loves to recognize.
I also agree that the Oscars should focus more on popular films. Obviously the popular films are doing something right if they’re making a ton of money for the actors and the industry, and that shouldn’t be discounted. I will readily admit that over the past couple of years I am uninterested in less than half of the nominated movies. It’s not that I don’t like drama, but to me a lot of Oscar movies seem slow-paced, or dare I say, pretentious. I feel like lately the movie noms are always: European war epic, boring event in US history, biopic, tales of the American frontier, and repeat. My kingdom for something like Parasite or Moonlight to surprise us again.
Photos credit: Avalon.red and via Instagram
I hear his point, but was his character in Pulp Fiction (sadistic assassin) really such a noble character? Seemed pretty despicable to me.
That said, he totally would have won. No one remembers anyone of those other actors.
Landau should have won for Crimes and Misdemeanors, but I really enjoyed his performance in Ed Wood. I thought SLJ was a bit over the top in Pulp Fiction, but it was written that way and he was excellent. His performance is the one I remember all these years later.
Yes, many times they give a belated Oscar because the actor should have gotten it before.
Yeah, Martin Landau was recognized for his body of work. Given his age at the time, it was the Academy making sure he got an Oscar before he died. Samuel L. Jackson also has an excellent body of work that deserves to be recognized more than it has been. But Landau did not steal an undeserving Oscar from Jackson — his performance as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood was excellent.
I think he makes a good point. I don’t think its necessarily about box office but about impact. So many of the movies that we remember and discuss aren’t the ones that cleaned up big at the Oscars. Pulp Fiction is tricky bc it was up against Forrest Gump this year, which obviously is also a movie that people remember and quote regularly etc. But so often when we look back at the awards and see who won the Oscar in a given year and its like, “really? that person beat these other people? because I’ve never even hear of that movie.”
But that’s a hard thing to measure at the time. Did people think that we would still be quoting Pulp Fiction decades later? I’m not sure (I was too young to see it when it first came out, according to my parents, lol.)
He’s still alive! And making movies! I would find this so insulting, as if the Academy is saying “you’re never gonna actually win, but we wanted to do something nice for ya anyway.”
But look at those that came before him, as well as the female African American actors as well. There are so many that have been overlooked for too long!
The Oscars should be ashamed of themselves.
How Samuel “MF” Jackson has NEVER won an Oscar boggles my mind! And I am in agreement with him in regards to POC playing unfortunate roles that DO win them an Oscar. Denzel for Training Day? Why not Malcolm X or another moving historical figure? We should also add other worthy African American actor, Forest Whitaker who stared in The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker was mesmerizing in that movie! As well as The Butler too!!
There are so many African American actors that have never been nominated as well that are no longer with us that deserved it as well. I am referring to Cicely Tyson, she never won an Oscar for a film performance.
The Oscars should be banned for being too white for too long. ☹️
After reading i still dont understand ” Oscars dont move the comma from your check “…..?
He’s saying Oscars don’t necessarily get you more money.
Oscars aren’t a guarantee for more money and having them doesn’t mean you will continue to be successful in Hollywood. In fact, they call it the Oscar curse because many times an actors career begins to stall after winning one.
Exactly. Any boost to your career tends to be very brief and one error or weak choice can mute that effect in a heartbeat. Here’s a good example because it’s a pretty good comparison: Eddie Redmayne (best actor winner) and Benedict Cumberbatch (nominee that same year). Both white, posh British actors in a similar age range. Both married and had kids in the same time period. Eddie won the Oscar and tons of lead up awards….
….but who has had the more successful career since?
Cumberbatch by a mile and then some. Don’t get me wrong, Redmayne works consistently and has successes and even had another nomination (the less said about that the better! 😒). But Cumberbatch is by far and away the more popular and successful actor because of all the choices made after the Oscar nomination. In the end it didn’t matter that he didn’t win.
Just adding to the conversation that Samuel L. Jackson’s biography is awesome. It reveals so many cinema gems, his methodology as an actor, his personal mantras. He has worked in 100+ films and is truly respected by his peers. In the early 00s, I felt like Samuel L Jackson had a cool factor but it was dismissive because that rested so much on profanity. By the mid-00s, I realized I was wrong. SLJ is cool because he’s THAT guy and consummate professional. He does an amazing riveting job with all of his characters.
But won’t they move the comma on your NEXT check?
No and that’s the point he’s making winning a Oscar will not guarantee you more money on your next film.
Yep, but Nick Fury lives forever. I want Nick Fury in every single Marvel movie, because he is hilarious, and he always moves the plot forward. Eff the Oscars, Nick Fury is a goddamn superhero. That is all because of Samuel L. Jackson.
It used to be that black people only got nominated for being slaves and servants and women would be nominated for being prostitutes on screen. That is what happens when the people doing the choices exclusively come from one demographic. They only see themselves as complex characters and everybody else is background or support for their character
To add to this, if you were an actress whose character was raped, that could also help you get an Oscar nomination. If you combined the two, as in you played a “hooker with a heart of gold” who was raped, you were practically a lock for an Oscar nod. Sick business.
I didn’t realize he’d only been nominated once. He’s been in SOOOO many films, and has had some really memorable, impactful performances and characters. His work in Unbreakable is one of my favorites.
I woudn’t say the Oscars should focus on popular films – I think they should always strive to nominate the best work, but they should be open to that work being in popular films. If that makes sense. I think they overlook some good stuff, because it’s popular and financially successful.
Boxy Lady, You are absolutely right, but I’m personally delighting in your snark, which is wonderful.
I have not watched an Oscar nominated film, on purpose, after The Piano. If something I love happens to be nominated, I probably won’t notice. I should probably re-watch The Piano, in case it was actually good, and I was just too young to get it.