Samuel L. Jackson on Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and acting

Gulf News

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00:00It wasn't until my junior year in college, when I took a public speaking course, and

00:15once again the professor teaching the class was directing production of Three Penny Opera,

00:20and he didn't have enough guy.

00:22And he said he'd give us extra credit for that particular course if we got in to play.

00:27So I got in to play, and I haven't stopped doing it since.

00:32That was the one time that I finally realized that I found something that made me want to

00:37get up every day and go to class.

00:39I wanted to get up and go to my acting class and go to my set construction class and be

00:43in the theater and be around those creative people.

00:46And it gave me a better feeling than I had forcing myself to get up and go look at science

00:51problems and I was trying to do biology or whatever.

00:58No, I didn't realize.

01:01The first time I realized Pulp Fiction had international appeal.

01:04Bruce and I were shooting Die Hard when Pulp Fiction came out.

01:08So when it was time to go to Canada, we were in New York shooting Die Hard, so I got on

01:13a plane with Bruce and we flew to Canada.

01:16And I'm sitting there in the palette watching the film, and the film's playing beautifully.

01:22People are loving this movie.

01:24And I realized, wow, they're actually reading the movie.

01:28Half the people in here don't speak English.

01:31They're reading it and they're getting it.

01:33And that was when Bruce elbowed me in the door.

01:38This is it.

01:43The beauty of working for Quentin is that because of my theatrical background, and he

01:51respects that, he understands the value of rehearsal.

01:54So we rehearsed Pulp Fiction at least a month before we started shooting.

02:00The same thing with Jackie Brown.

02:03The same thing with April 8th.

02:06The same thing with Django Unchained.

02:09At one point we were in a studio lot, in a stagecoach, doing the stagecoach scenes in

02:17April 8th.

02:18And they built minis on a soundstage so we could rehearse everything we needed to do

02:22in there.

02:23So we got to work.

02:24If something wasn't happening in a certain place, we could do something else because

02:28we knew what we were going to do.

02:30So he understands the value of rehearsal and being able to fix the dialogue, being able

02:35to fix the blocking, having the DP there so they can plot shots.

02:39So when we get to work, we work very efficiently.

02:44But Quentin also has the most creative film set that I've ever been on.

02:54Number one, nothing with an on-off switch other than the camera is on set.

03:01There are no phones, there are no iPads, there's nothing.

03:04So when he says cut, people are going to start checking their emails and people talk to each

03:09other.

03:10You talk about the things you just did or you talk to the crew members who are doing

03:14stuff about what they're doing or the sound guy pumps music into the set because Quentin

03:20loves music.

03:21So there's all kinds of music that comes up between shots.

03:24It could be anything from opera to James Brown.

03:29So we dance a lot.

03:31We sing a lot.

03:32Quentin also tells stories a lot.

03:36He is the most encyclopedic cinematic mind I've ever encountered.

03:49I choose films that are entertaining because I think we're entertainers.

03:54I think documentarians are the people who should chronicle our history or things that

04:01happen right now and those films serve another purpose.

04:05So for a person like me, I don't mind telling a message or being in a message movie of sorts,

04:13but I particularly think of myself as someone who gives people an opportunity to get away

04:22from what their everyday life is for two hours, two and a half hours, and take some

04:29kind of ride that gives them an opportunity to not think about what their troubles might

04:34be or how their lives are impacted by outside forces or the external forces that keep them

04:43in certain situations so that they can come in here and escape that, come into the big

04:47dark room and escape that and have a shared feeling with all the people that are there

04:52and leave with a smile on their faces or a little more adrenaline or to be energized

04:58by what they've seen and feel better about themselves.

05:02So I choose movies that are entertaining.

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