For many actors, receiving an Oscar and not being slapped while at the ceremony is a true accomplishment, but Samuel L. Jackson says he does not need one; the honorary statue he received in 2022 is good enough. He’s happier playing Nick Fury at this time. He loves a good gift basket, though.
“As jaded as I wanted to be about it, you know thinking, ‘Well, I should have won an Oscar for this or should have won for that and it didn’t happen,’ once I got over it many years ago, it wasn’t a big deal for me. I always have fun going to the Oscars. I always look forward to getting a gift basket for being a presenter. I give stuff to my relatives; my daughter and my wife would take stuff out. It’s cool … but otherwise, I was past it. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber.”
Jackson makes the comments about his career in an article published by the Los Angeles Times yesterday. He adds that his career choices are rooted in the kind of work he wanted to see as a kid, and he is more impressed with his work being a part of popular culture, which is not something actors who have mainly been in prestige projects can always say they have for themselves.
“I want to do that movie 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—. Whatever gets them in the seats.”
Jackson will appear next in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.