Samuel L. Jackson says that a deleted scene from A Time To Kill lost him an Oscar.
Jackson appeared as Carl Lee Hailey in the 1996 film, and discussed a scene that didn’t make the final cut in a new interview.
Speaking to Vulture, Jackson discussed his disappointment that one particular scene that he was proud of didn’t make the cut, and that he thought it would have won him an Academy Award.
“The things they took out kept me from getting an Oscar,” Jackson said, adding: “‘Really, motherfuckers? You just took that shit from me?’
He added: “My first day working on that film, I did a speech in a room with an actor, and the whole fucking set was in tears when I finished.
“I was like, ‘Okay. I’m on the right page.’ That shit is not in the movie! And I know why it’s not. Because it wasn’t my movie, and they weren’t trying to make me a star.
“That was one of the first times that I saw that shit happen. There are things that I’ve done in other movies where I said, ‘Wait a minute. Why did you take that moment out of the movie?’ Because the moment in that movie, it’s bigger than the movie.”
Of the consequence of the scene being cut, Jackson added: “I lost all the time. All the time. I lost the Globes. I lost this. I lost that. And then the night that you’re sitting there at the Oscars, you sit there and go, ‘I lost every time. Maybe they get it right this time.’ And they didn’t. I think I’m the only person that’s ever said ‘shit’ in the middle of the little square on the TV.”
Elsewhere in the same interview, Jackson opened up about his 1992 feud with Spike Lee, admitting it took more than 20 years to rebuild their relationship.
Jackson revealed that he and the director fell out over Malcolm X salary dispute, which ultimately led to Jackson turning down the role of Baines in the historical drama. The part was instead played by Albert Hall.
“I actually read with most of the people who auditioned for Malcolm X,” said Jackson, who had previously starred in Lee’s Jungle Fever, School Daze, and Do the Right Thing.
“I was supposed to be the guy that turned Malcolm X on to Islam in prison. I forget who played that role. But it was still down to that Spike Lee scale-plus-10 salary thing. I was like, ‘I’m not going to work for no scale-plus-10.’”
Elsewhere, Emilia Clarke recently revealed that she “almost ran over” Jackson on the set of Marvel‘s Secret Invasion.
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