Samuel L. Jackson has only had one Oscar nomination in his career (a supporting actor nod for Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”) — how can that be?
He spoke to the Los Angeles Times recently about how his Tarantino roles got unfairly snubbed:
“Everything I’ve done for Quentin has a moment that’s given me an opportunity, from ‘Jackie Brown’ to ‘The Hateful Eight’ to ‘Django [Unchained],’” Jackson said. “‘Django’ was probably my best shot [at an Oscar] because it’s the most evil character I’ve ever played and they generally reward Black people for playing horrendous shit.”
“I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. 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.”
Okay. Let’s recap his career, and that ridiculously lengthy filmography, to see if he has a point.
Jackson has starred in a lot of s**t too, but he has a few great performances to his name. Most notably, “Jungle Fever,” “Pulp Fiction,” Jackie Brown,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” and, yes, “Django Unchained.” He should have absolutely gotten nominated (and probably won) for ‘Django’ as it was the best performance of that film, ditto “Jungle Fever.”
Then again, scrolling through his filmography, he seems to have made it a priority to star in a lot of cash cows. He likes braindead blockbusters and he’s been in a ton of them.