Summary
- Despite the commercial success of "A Time to Kill," Samuel L. Jackson was outraged by its editing and felt that the film didn't deserve rave reviews.
- Jackson believed that specific scenes that showcased his character's motivation and emotions were removed from the final cut, affecting the overall portrayal and impact.
- Although he never won an Oscar for a specific acting role, Jackson received an Honorary Academy Award in 2002 for his outstanding contributions to film throughout his career.
During Samuel L. Jackson's lengthy career, he has become one of the most respected actors of all time. The star of many movies that have made a fortune, Jackson has been paid millions to work with Quentin Tarantino and lots of other famous filmmakers and actors.
Looking back at everything that Jackson has accomplished, it can be easy to feel like everything has gone the actor's way. In reality, however, Jackson revealed that he was outraged after feeling like an Academy Award was stolen from him by the people behind his film A Time to Kill.
Why Was Samuel L. Jackson Furious At A Time To Kill's Producers?
When people think about Samuel L. Jackson these days, there is no dispute that he has become a Hollywood legend. After decades of starring in a slew of massively successful and popular movies, Jackson has entertained millions of people with his incredible performances.
Years before Jackson became famous for Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, he was still trying to build his career. At that phase in Jackson's career, 1996's A Time to Kill was released and introduced many moviegoers to how powerful he can be as an actor.
Commercially speaking, A Time to Kill was a success. According to IMDb, A Time to Kill was produced for $40 million and brought in more than $152 million at the worldwide box office. Career-wise, A Time to Kill also was a great thing for everyone involved.
After making A Time to Kill, the movie's director Joel Schumacher was given the keys to a massive film franchise when he helmed Batman & Robin. A Time to Kill's stars Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kevin Spacey all went on to become huge stars.
Given how successful A Time to Kill was for everyone involved, it may seem shocking that it outraged one of its stars. However, Samuel L. Jackson has made his opinion that A Time to Kill should have been a much better film well-known.
On Rotten Tomatoes, A Time to Kill only has a 68% rating. Decades after A Time to Kill was released, Jackson was interviewed by Vulture and based on his remarks it was obvious that he felt that A Time to Kil didn't deserve rave reviews.
Most importantly, Jackson expressed his opinion that the reason why A Time to Kill was a disappointing film is because of how it was edited. On top of Jackson calling out how A Time to Kill was edited, he spoke about the situation with so much passion that it was obvious that he is still deeply bothered by what happened.
"In A Time to Kill, when I kill those guys, I kill them because my daughter needs to know that those guys are not on the planet anymore and they will never hurt her again — that I will do anything to protect her. That’s how I played that character throughout."
Jackson continued, "And there were specific things we shot, things I did to make sure that she understood that, but in the editing process, they got taken out. And it looked like I killed those dudes and then planned every move to make sure that I was going to get away with it. When I saw it, I was sitting there like, What the f**k?"
Jackson then went a step further by talking about his opinion that A Time to Kill's poor editing robbed him of an Academy Award.
"But also the things they took out kept me from getting an Oscar. Really, motherf***ers? You just took that s**t from me? 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."
Jackson continued, "I was like, Okay. I’m on the right page. That s**t 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."
Has Samuel L. Jackson Won An Oscar?
From the outside looking in, it may seem like it is foolish for a successful actor to lament missing out on an Oscar. However, even though some Oscar winners make less money after taking home their awards, many actors seem to really want to win an Oscar.
Since many people in Hollywood value the Academy Awards, some actors are outraged when the nominees are announced. A perfect example of that is the fact that Jennifer Connelly expressed her amazement that Tom Cruise wasn't nominated for Top Gun: Maverick.
Given the importance that the Hollywood community places on The Academy Awards, it is easy to see why Jackson's A Time to Kill situation made him so frustrated. Of course, Jackson would continue to work as an actor for decades so that begs an obvious question, did he ever win an Oscar?
During Jackson's career, he has been magnificent in a long list of movies. Some of Jackson's best work was as part of movies like Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Do the Right Thing, The Hateful Eight, and Unbreakable.
Despite all the stellar work Jackson has done as an actor, he has only been nominated for an Oscar once. In 1995, Jackson's performance in Pulp Fiction netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost to Ed Wood's Martin Landau.
Even though Jackson never won an Academy Award for a specific acting role, he eventually took home a little golden man. During the 94th Academy Awards which took place in 2002, Jackson was awarded an Honorary Academy Award.
Jackson received his Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his decades of incredible performances. During the Governors Awards ceremony where the Honorary Academy Awards winners are celebrated, Denzel Washington honored Jackson and presented his trophy.
