Famed actor Samuel L. Jackson feels that winning an Oscar is not the significant accomplishment everyone deems it to be.
In a recent interview with The i News, where he discussed his latest role in the Apple TV+ series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Jackson made the claim that obtaining an Oscar actually does not have much of an impact on a person’s career in Hollywood. “[It] doesn’t change your career trajectory that much,” he said. “A lot of people have them and haven’t done much since.”
Jackson’s statement comes mere weeks before he will be awarded an honorary Oscar for his work, which he previously remarked was “belated.” Despite his illustrious career and numerous box office hits, Jackson has only been nominated for an Oscar once, in 1995 for his performance as hit man Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor that year went to Martin Laundau for his role in Ed Wood instead, with Jackson famously mumbling “shit” when Landau was called onto the stage.
Jackson attributed his Oscar views on his tendency to act in “popcorn movies,” rather than cinematic character studies. “They should have an Oscar for the most popular movie. Because that’s what the business is about,” he declared recently. He acknowledged, however, that it has become easier for people of color to get roles in Hollywood as the demand for more diversity in film has increased.
“There are more stories to tell and people need more content,” Jackson continued. “And the audience itself is very different. The people who write and tell the stories are very different. So the palette of the stories is filled with the people who write them and tell them.”
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey centers around Jackson’s eponymous Ptolemy, a lonely 93-year-old man. Despite suffering from dementia, Ptolemy is suddenly able to remember his past one day, and he uses this rare chance to dig into the suspicious events surrounding his nephew’s death. Jackson’s work in the series has been lauded as his best performance to date, and the show currently has a 86% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 critic reviews. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, who also served as writer for the show. Joining Jackson are Show Me a Hero‘s Dominque Fishback as Robyn, Ptolemy’s caretaker, and Walton Goggins (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Dr. Rubin.
The first two episodes of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey are available to stream now on Apple TV+, with new episodes to be released every week.
Source: The i
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