Samuel L. Jackson is looking at the Academy Awards in a new light.
Jackson, 75, didn't mince words about his thoughts on the coveted gong, saying the Oscar nomination doesn't mean much to him.
“We've been in this industry so long that we know that when people go, 'It's just an honor to be nominated.' No, it's not,” Jackson said. Associated Press He spoke in a joint interview with his “Piano Lesson'' co-star Michael Potts.
“It's an honor to win,” the “Pulp Fiction” actor said, adding that most people eventually forget an Oscar-nominated performance.
“When I get nominated, people say, 'Oh, I remember,' or most people forget,” he quipped.
The “Unbreakable” actor was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1995 for his role as Jules Winfield in Quentin Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction.”
He ultimately lost out to Martin Landau, who played the role of Ed Wood in the 1994 film of the same name.
Jackson believed he would have won an Oscar for his role in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill if it had not been cut from the final version.
“I didn't get an Oscar because of what they brought out,” Jackson said long ago vulture In 2023. Did you just take it away from me?
“The first day I worked on that movie, I was in the room with the actors giving a speech, and by the time it was over, the whole set was crying. I thought, 'I get it.' I'm on the right page. ” That doesn’t happen in the movie! And I know why not. Because it wasn't my movie and they weren't trying to make me a star. ”
After years of failing to win the coveted award, Jackson was finally awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2021 and was recognized by the Academy as a “cultural icon.”
“Generally, it’s a contest that I didn’t enter myself into,” he said of the awards ceremony. “I didn't go into it to be flexible. 'Let me do my scene and you'll remember who I was.'
“When they nominate you, people say, 'What's that movie you're nominated for?' What's that called? And then when it's over, people say, 'Who won?' It becomes difficult to even remember,” the “Snakes on a Plane” actor added.
The Star Wars actor also told Vulture that winning the 2021 Oscars “didn't feel like an honor,” but rather “felt like I won an Oscar.”
“I won. I worked for it,” he told the outlet. “I can give you four other examples where I could have won, should have won, should have been nominated, but I'm fine with that. That's me. Okay. It has my name on it.”
