At this year’s Governor’s Awards, Samuel L. Jackson received an honorary Oscar from Denzel Washington. The two actors go way back from their early theatre days in New York. After the actor won the Oscar, he started to speak but ran over to Denzel to give him a bear hug. During an interview, the Los Angeles Times asked if Jackson was surprised by the emotion of that evening.

According to Jackson, he was never going to let the Oscars measure his success or failure as an actor. Instead, the yardstick he uses is his happiness. If told that he would win an Oscar if he were to do this movie, the legendary actor would say no thanks. He’d rather be Nick Fury. Or have fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber. But are there any “status-chasing movies” he regrets passing on?

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At one point, the subject of the interview turned toward Jackson’s work with Quentin Tarantino. Jackson has appeared in six of the director’s nine films, either in person or in voiceover, the latter of which he provided for Inglorious Bastards. And yet, out of all his roles, he’s only ever been nominated for Jules in Pulp Fiction.

Samuel L. Jackson on the 2022 Oscars

     MTV Films

Two days after receiving his lifetime achievement award, Jackson had a Pulp Fiction Reunion with Uma Thurman and John Travolta. On the same night, Jackson handed Will Smith the Oscar for Best Actor. When asked about the evening, after “the big incident happened,” Jackson’s response was ‘whoa’ while his wife asked if that was a bit. (“No, Will just slapped the s— out of Chris.”)

However, Jackson stated that he didn’t really care about adding to the historical record of what happened backstage that night. Instead, he still feels a little ticked that “the greatest actor we had in Hollywood died,” and the Academy gave him “10 f— seconds.” According to Jackson, there should have been a whole section on Sidney Poitier.

When the LA Times interview stated that he would have preferred that over the Twitter fan-favorite movie, Jackson responded by saying that it’s not wrong for skateboards and snowboards to be presenting the Academy Awards. At the same time, they have their show. It’s called the ESPYs, and they should go do that.

When asked if the box office is rewarding enough and that the Oscars should celebrate cinema, Jackson responded, “This is cinema.” That is what people go into the theatre for–to be entertained. That’s what they’re celebrating. The best actor or best actress award is just a popularity contest.