The Snub That Still Hurts: Samuel L. Jackson's performance in Pulp Fiction was more than a tasty burger
The Oscars are like a box of chocolates: You sort of know what you're gonna get. So no one could have been all that surprised when Forrest Gump took six trophies at the 1995 ceremony while Pulp Fiction eked out just one of its seven nods, for Best Screenplay; Quentin Tarantino's gloriously profane crime opus undoubtedly came in too hot for the staid Academy, which tends to be about as radical as a Rotary Club when it comes to new voices. (Get Out and Promising Young Woman, tellingly, also got their sole wins in Screenplay.)
But time has not been kind to the decision to reward Martin Landau in Ed Wood over Samuel L. Jackson's sublime Pulp turn as Jules Winnfield, the Los Angeles hitman–slash–philosopher king whose towering monologues on faith and righteousness and Royales with cheese rewrote the book on what a Supporting Actor could do. (Literally; more people today probably know his version of Ezekiel 25:17 by heart than the actual Bible verse.)
Miramax Samuel L. Jackson in 'Pulp Fiction'
In a movie full of indelible performances (John Travolta and Uma Thurman were also nominated, and somehow lost) and high-flying plot swerves (heroin ODs and leather gimps are the least of it), Jackson managed to make Jules, with his cool gaze and glistening Jheri curl, the moral center of the movie, not least for the Ezekiel reprise of his flawless final scene. More snubs would come for Sam — Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, to say nothing of Snakes On a Plane — but at least history has caught up, kind of: He's slated to receive an honorary Oscar at the 2022 ceremonies. And if security is checking IDs at the door, well, his wallet shouldn't be hard to find.
EW's countdown to the 2022 Oscars has everything you're looking for, from our expert predictions and in-depth Awardist interviews with this year's nominees to nostalgia and our takes on the movies and actors we wish had gotten more Oscars love. You can check it all out at The Awardist.
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