It is hard to imagine Pulp Fiction without Sam Jackson as Jules.
Samuel L. Jackson sat down for a nice long chat with Vulture to discuss his career to date, in part to celebrate the current weekly release of his Marvel show Secret Invasion, and the impending release of the next MCU movie, The Marvels, arriving in cinemas this November.
Over the course of the conversation, many eye-opening topics were covered, including the history of his falling out with director Spike Lee, an editing decision behind legal thriller A Time To Kill that he believes cost him a lot of awards attention, his thoughts on Tarantino’s most recent output, and his infamous reaction on Oscar night when he lost out on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Martin Landau.
That nomination – and unbelievably, his only acting nomination across his entire career – was for his performance in Pulp Fiction. While Jackson has since picked up an Honorary Award from the Academy for his lifetime of achievements, for many of his fans, the role of Jules Winnfield is at very top of those achievements.
And during the interview, Jackson revealed he very nearly lost out on the Pulp Fiction role completely. The following is an edited excerpt from the interview:
“Quentin sent me the script, told me, ‘Jules is yours.’ I went in and they just wanted to hear the character. I read it, and they were like, ‘Amazing. Job’s yours.’
“Then I hear, ‘Well, there’s this other actor who came in to audition for Pulp for another role, and he asked if he could read Jules, and we let him. And we kind of love him. So we need you to come back and read it again.’ Now I’m like, ‘What the fuck? What do you mean, read again?’ My agent’s managers call Harvey [Weinstein], they’re cursing him out. And Harvey’s like, ‘Look, Sam’s got the job. We just need him to come in, do it. Blah, blah blah.’
“I got on a plane that night, take the red-eye to LA. And I’m on the plane doing all the shit that I normally do when I get ready to do a job. I’m breaking down the fucking role. I’m breaking down the sentences. By the time I get there, they’re not even there. They’ve gone to lunch or some shit. They come back and everybody’s like, ‘Hey, Sam.’ And some dude, the last dude that came in, right behind me. He was going, ‘Hi. Mr. Fishburne. Glad to meet you.’ I was like, ‘What the fuck? Who is this motherfucker?’
“Well, I go in the room and we’re doing the scene. And the first thing we’re doing is the killing room scene: ‘Do you speak English? English, motherfucker, do you speak it?’ And [my scene reading partner is] so busy watching me, he gets lost in the fucking dialogue. And I’m like, ‘What the fuck? You’re fucking up my audition here!’ I want to slap him. By the time we finish and we do the end scene in the diner where I do the last scene, me and Tim Roth, they were like, ‘Thanks. Blah, blah, blah.’
“I slammed the script down. I slam the door and leave. Go back to the airport, because I had to work Monday, come back to New York. Then I see Bender. And he’s like, ‘We were so going to cast this other kid until you did that last speech in the diner.’ And I was like, ‘Really, motherfucker? So I had to go through all that, after you told me I had a job?’
“[The other kid was] named Paul Calderon. Good actor from New York. But anyhow, what I’m saying is I did Pulp and then Kiss of Death. And we’re doing Die Hard: With a Vengeance. And in the middle of Die Hard Cannes happens. I fly to Cannes with Bruce for the premiere of Pulp Fiction, it’s one of my first times on private planes. And Bruce was like, ‘Yeah. This movie’s going to be great for you. But Die Hard’s going to make you a star.’ And sure enough, Pulp comes out, it’s great, people love it. But Die Hard next year is the highest grossing movie worldwide. All of a sudden I’m an international motherfucker.”
If you’re wondering if you’ve ever heard of Paul Calderon, chances are you probably haven’t. But if you’re a fan of Pulp Fiction, then you should definitely recognise him: he plays the bartender who says “Hey, my name’s Paul and this shit’s between y’all” to John Travolta.
Pulp Fiction is available to stream at home right now on Paramount+, Sky Cinema, or with a NOW Cinema Membership.
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