Samuel L Jackson Would Rather Play Mace Windu Than Chase Oscars

There’s been plenty of debate in recent years as to what constitutes ‘real’ cinema. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Martin Scorsese perhaps most famously claimed that Marvel movies “aren’t cinema,” but several other auteurs have taken swipes at blockbuster movies including Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg.

One actor who’s sampled both the popular and the critically-beloved sides of the cinema world Samuel L Jackson is now weighing in on the debate, and he certainly knows where he stands.

Speaking of Star Wars, check out the new trailer for Star Wars: Andor.

Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Jackson opened up about how he has little interest in chasing Oscars. Instead, the actor would much rather be Nick Fury, “Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.” Please can someone over at Lucasfilm make this happen?

Jackson explained, “I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I'm doing? I'm not doing statue-chasing movies. You know: 'If you do this movie, you'll win an Oscar.' No, thanks. I'd rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand."

He later touched on how the Oscars should celebrate popular films, and not just those that typically succeed on the awards circuit. Jackson said, “That is cinema! That’s what we go into the big, dark room to do - to be entertained. That’s what we’re celebrating, the big s**t that happened in Hollywood.”

He went on, “I want to do the stuff that made me want to go to the movies when I was a kid. I want to do that movie that people just want to see so they can get out of themselves. That’s the guy I chose to be and I’m fine with it. I’m satisfied because that’s who I am. I’m the guy who does the lines that people see on T-shirts.” Nicely said. There’s no reason why blockbusters and critical darlings can’t coexist but uh yeah, back to the Mace Windu thing. Disney?