During an interview with AP Entertainment to promote The Piano Lesson movie, which he starred in, veteran actor Samuel L. Jackson downplayed the essence of Oscar nominations, explaining that he doesn’t feel it’s an honor to receive just that nod.
Though Jackson is a renowned actor and has starred in several blockbuster movies, the 75-year-old surprisingly has just one Oscar nomination under his belt, Variety reported. That nomination was for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1994 movie, Pulp Fiction. He, however, received an honorary Academy Award in 2021.
“We’ve been in the business long enough to know that when folks go, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t. It’s an honor to win,” the Django Unchained star said. “You get nominated and folks go, ‘Yeah I remember that.’ Or most people forget. Generally it’s a contest you didn’t volunteer to be in. I didn’t go in there so I could flex. ‘Let me do my scene, so you can remember who I was.’”
“They nominate you and people go, ‘What is that movie you’re nominated for? What’s the name of that thing?’ And after it’s over and people have a hard time remembering who even won,” he added.
Jackson has in the past also registered his displeasure over being snubbed at the Oscars. During an interview with The Times in 2022, he said he felt that he should have received the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1995 Oscars. He similarly told Vulture last year that he deserved a nomination for his role in the 1996 movie, A Time to Kill.
But it appears Jackson doesn’t really worry about those awards as he stated that he preferred shooting box-office hit movies to doing projects that could potentially earn him an Oscar.
“I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor,” Jackson told The Times. “My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know [whispers]: ‘If you do this movie, you’ll win an Oscar.’ No, thanks. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.”
The 75-year-old also said he has no issues with waiving Oscar-worthy roles so far as he’s featuring in films “that people just want to see so they can get out of themselves.”
“That’s the guy I chose to be and I’m fine with it. I’m satisfied because that’s who I am. I’m the guy who does the lines that people see on T-shirts. There’s actors who go their whole careers and no one can quote a line they’ve said in a movie. People go to watch my movies to see how crazy I’m going to be or see how many times I say motherf**ker. Whatever gets them in the seats,” he explained.
