Samuel L. Jackson is staunchly in favor of the Oscars introducing a category celebrating popular films amid debate surrounding the Academy’s plan to honor Twitter users’ favorite 2021 film.
During a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Jackson, who is known for playing Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said he believes the Oscars should honor mainstream blockbusters in addition to the prestige, lesser-seen titles that have tended to dominate voting in recent years.
Unlike such notable industry names as Martin Scorsese, who has said he doesn’t consider superhero films to be cinema, Jackson defended such populist fare. “All movies are valid,” he said. “Some go to the cinema to be moved dearly. Some like superheroes. If somebody has more butts on seats it just means your audience is not as broad. There are people who have had successful careers but nobody can recite one line of their parts. I’m the guy who says shit that’s on a T-shirt.”
He continued, “They should have an Oscar for the most popular movie.” Explaining that getting people into theaters is “what the business is about,” Jackson expressed that the Academy should hand out an Oscar to recent box-office smash Spider-Man: No Way to acknowledge its success. “They should! It did what movies did for ever — it got people to a big dark room.”
The Academy considered adding a popular film category for the 2019 Oscars ceremony but scuttled the plan following backlash from film critics and members of the Academy. This year, the 2021 film receiving the most fan votes with the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite by March 3 will be recognized during the telecast, although this will not be considered a formal Oscars category.
Jackson also discussed his own career accolades and said that he should have made it up to the podium for his role as Jules in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit Pulp Fiction, which earned the star the only Oscar nomination of his storied career. “I should have won that one,” Jackson said of the supporting-actor prize that went to Martin Landau for Ed Wood.
The 73-year-old Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard actor added that he believes he should have been nominated for his role in Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing, although he doesn’t see Oscars as increasing a performer’s asking price.
“I guess Black folk usually win for doing despicable shit on screen,” he said. “Like Denzel [Washington] for being a horrible cop in Training Day. All the great stuff he did in uplifting roles like Malcolm X? No — we’ll give it to this motherfucker. So maybe I should have won one. But Oscars don’t move the comma on your check — it’s about getting asses in seats, and I’ve done a good job of doing that.”
Source: Hollywood
