Samuel Jackson opened up recently about his controversial role in Django Unchained, revealing why he thinks he was ignored by the Golden Globes and his thoughts on winning an Oscar. Find out what he said inside....
As folks like Spike Leepublically bashDjango Unchained for its Hollywood depiction of slavery, Samuel Jackson defends both the film and its director in an interview with Deadline.com. He also says why he thinks he's often overlooked at the Oscars and Golden Globes. Here are the highlights:
On his role as Stephen (a freed slave [according to what Leo DiCaprio's character intorduced him as in the movie] who oversees the plantation):
"I mean Quentin writes interesting characters. I’ve been pretty despicable in most of his films. People loved Jules (Pulp Fiction) but he’s a murderer. People loved Ordell (Jackie Brown) but he’s a murderer. Stephen has an unusual take on slavery. He’s okay with it.
“I hope he’s reviled, and people want to see him die. People enjoy him, but it’s strange. He’s a funny guy in a way, despicably funny. People laugh at Stephen and what he does, but you know they do want to see him dead.”
On Quentin Tarantino turning slavery into a western:
“I would say that Quentin’s way is the way to reach a larger audience, and slavery seems to be another backdrop. We seldom understand that when people were out there shooting Indians or whatever, on the other side of the Mississippi there were people getting beaten down. This is the first time those genres cross paths. When you take that and make it entertaining in a way, you express the brutality of what slavery really was, of how people were really property and the way people treated them."
On why he didn't get a Golden Globe nomination for "Django Unchained":
“I understand what the Golden Globes is. It’s the only show they (the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) have and is their biggest moneymaker so you have to pack the room with people that are going to make people tune into that show. With popular actors and the popular television shows, it’s whoever they think people want to see on the red carpet and hope that they win, not necessarily the quality of work you’ve done.”
On how he feels about Oscars and Golden Globes:
“I figured out early in the game that the best thing for me to do is just keep going to work. I don’t worry about picking a movie that says ‘oh my god, this has Oscar potential’. Other people think about that stuff, I don’t. I look at some actors and go ‘they only do those kinds of movies’. I do movies I want to see myself. "
We wonder if Samuel will pick up an Oscar nomination, as his role as a black slave master/overseer on a white man's plantation was one we rarely, if ever, have seen in a film. And he did a damn good job, no matter how uncomfortable it made people. Afterall, isn't that the job of an actor?
P.S. It seems like most people with harsh criticsms of what they think this movie is, did not see the movie at all. At least not in full. See the movie before pre-judging. We think it was an interesting and intriguing perspective at the day to day life and mindsets during the slave era that in many ways, were historically true. It was not a documentary from solely a historical perspective, and it was not intended to be.
