Samuel L. Jackson: People Say ‘It’s an Honor to Be Nominated’ for Oscars, but ‘No It Ain’t. It’s an Honor to Win. Most People Forget’ About Noms

Samuel L Jackson said in a video interview with AP Entertainment, while promoting his role in Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson,” that Oscar nominations aren’t too big of a deal for him. Shockingly, Jackson has only earned one Oscar nomination during his illustrious career — for “Pulp Fiction,” which he landed a best supporting actor nod for in 1995. Jackson was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2021.

“We’ve been in the business long enough to know that when folks go, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t. It’s an honor to win,” Jackson said with a laugh. “You get nominated and folks go, ‘Yeah I remember that.’ Or most people forget. Generally it’s a contest you didn’t volunteer to be in. I didn’t go in there so I could flex. ‘Let me do my scene, so you can remember who I was.'”

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“They nominate you and people go, ‘What is that movie you’re nominated for? What’s the name of that thing?’ And after it’s over and people have a hard time remembering who even won,” Jackson added.

Jackson told The Times in 2022 that he deserved to win the 1995 Oscar for best supporting actor over Martin Landau (“Ed Wood”). In an interview with Vulture last year, he added that he was robbed of a second chance to win an Oscar when he didn’t even get nominated for Joel Schumacher’s 1996 legal drama “A Time to Kill.” The Oscars and Jackson have not gone hand-and-hand, which is fine considering he’d rather make billion dollar-grossing Marvel movies than chase down Oscar-friendly roles.

“I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor,” Jackson told the Times. “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.”

Jackson said he’s fine with giving up Oscar roles if it means making movies “that people just want to see so they can get out of themselves,” adding, “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 motherfucker. Whatever gets them in the seats.”

“The Piano Lesson” Jackson’s latest movie, is now streaming on Netflix.