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Samuel L. Jackson on Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and acting
Gulf News
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12/7/2024
Samuel L. Jackson on Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and acting
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00:00
It wasn't until my junior year in college, when I took a public speaking course, and
00:15
once again the professor teaching the class was directing production of Three Penny Opera,
00:20
and he didn't have enough guy.
00:22
And he said he'd give us extra credit for that particular course if we got in to play.
00:27
So I got in to play, and I haven't stopped doing it since.
00:32
That was the one time that I finally realized that I found something that made me want to
00:37
get up every day and go to class.
00:39
I wanted to get up and go to my acting class and go to my set construction class and be
00:43
in the theater and be around those creative people.
00:46
And it gave me a better feeling than I had forcing myself to get up and go look at science
00:51
problems and I was trying to do biology or whatever.
00:58
No, I didn't realize.
01:01
The first time I realized Pulp Fiction had international appeal.
01:04
Bruce and I were shooting Die Hard when Pulp Fiction came out.
01:08
So when it was time to go to Canada, we were in New York shooting Die Hard, so I got on
01:13
a plane with Bruce and we flew to Canada.
01:16
And I'm sitting there in the palette watching the film, and the film's playing beautifully.
01:22
People are loving this movie.
01:24
And I realized, wow, they're actually reading the movie.
01:28
Half the people in here don't speak English.
01:31
They're reading it and they're getting it.
01:33
And that was when Bruce elbowed me in the door.
01:38
This is it.
01:43
The beauty of working for Quentin is that because of my theatrical background, and he
01:51
respects that, he understands the value of rehearsal.
01:54
So we rehearsed Pulp Fiction at least a month before we started shooting.
02:00
The same thing with Jackie Brown.
02:03
The same thing with April 8th.
02:06
The same thing with Django Unchained.
02:09
At one point we were in a studio lot, in a stagecoach, doing the stagecoach scenes in
02:17
April 8th.
02:18
And they built minis on a soundstage so we could rehearse everything we needed to do
02:22
in there.
02:23
So we got to work.
02:24
If something wasn't happening in a certain place, we could do something else because
02:28
we knew what we were going to do.
02:30
So he understands the value of rehearsal and being able to fix the dialogue, being able
02:35
to fix the blocking, having the DP there so they can plot shots.
02:39
So when we get to work, we work very efficiently.
02:44
But Quentin also has the most creative film set that I've ever been on.
02:54
Number one, nothing with an on-off switch other than the camera is on set.
03:01
There are no phones, there are no iPads, there's nothing.
03:04
So when he says cut, people are going to start checking their emails and people talk to each
03:09
other.
03:10
You talk about the things you just did or you talk to the crew members who are doing
03:14
stuff about what they're doing or the sound guy pumps music into the set because Quentin
03:20
loves music.
03:21
So there's all kinds of music that comes up between shots.
03:24
It could be anything from opera to James Brown.
03:29
So we dance a lot.
03:31
We sing a lot.
03:32
Quentin also tells stories a lot.
03:36
He is the most encyclopedic cinematic mind I've ever encountered.
03:49
I choose films that are entertaining because I think we're entertainers.
03:54
I think documentarians are the people who should chronicle our history or things that
04:01
happen right now and those films serve another purpose.
04:05
So for a person like me, I don't mind telling a message or being in a message movie of sorts,
04:13
but I particularly think of myself as someone who gives people an opportunity to get away
04:22
from what their everyday life is for two hours, two and a half hours, and take some
04:29
kind of ride that gives them an opportunity to not think about what their troubles might
04:34
be or how their lives are impacted by outside forces or the external forces that keep them
04:43
in certain situations so that they can come in here and escape that, come into the big
04:47
dark room and escape that and have a shared feeling with all the people that are there
04:52
and leave with a smile on their faces or a little more adrenaline or to be energized
04:58
by what they've seen and feel better about themselves.
05:02
So I choose movies that are entertaining.
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