Maybe it’s sad that an actor being honest should be such huge news, but the Samuel L. Jackson keeping-it-real tour that started with him challenging a reporter to say “n**ger” instead of “the N-word” has been rolling on, and I can’t get enough of it. More recently, he told one interviewer that Lincoln had a crappy ending, and another that he deserved the Oscar for Pulp Fiction that he lost to Martin Landau (something he’s been saying for a long time, actually, because Sam Jackson doesn’t lie unless you pay him). In fact, if you watch the video of that year’s best supporting Oscar being presented (by a 12-year-old Anna Paquin), which I’ve included after the jump, you can see Sam Jackson say “sh*t” when Martin Landau’s name comes up. The man does not self-censor.
When I asked if he thought he should have won instead Jackson was refreshingly candid. “Yes I do. I really don’t know many people who can not only remember Ed Wood but remember what Martin Landau did in it,” he said but added he was told it was more of a life achievement kind of award. “You know they were saying ‘Martin’s been nominated a few times and you’re going to be around for a while. Don’t worry.’ I was thinking I didn’t know it was a thing where if you get nominated for a few times you automatically get one. I thought it was supposed to be about impact.” [Deadline]
Not that Martin Landau wasn’t great in Ed Wood (which I remember, just barely, and Gary Sinise was pretty damn good in Forrest Gump too), but Jackson is totally correct. Landau had been nominted in ’87 and ’89 without winning, and there are many cases of actors (especially in the best supporting actor category) who may not have turned in the best performance that year, but whom the academy rewards for being an older dude who’s always pretty good (anyone remember James Coburn in Affliction?). Rule goes double if the person dies before the ceremony.
Meanwhile, Jackson saved some haterade (is that racist?) for this year’s other slavery movie, the one with all the white people, Lincoln. (Spoilers follow, especially if you’re a moron).
