Samuel L. Jackson Reveals His Favorite Quentin Tarantino Movie Role and it’s Not ‘Pulp Fiction’
Samuel L. Jackson’s role as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction may be his most iconic. However, it’s not Jackson’s favorite role that he has played in one of Tarantino’s movies. In fact, Pulp Fiction isn’t even his favorite Tarantino movie that he has been in.
Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in several Quentin Tarantino movies
Jackson has become a favorite of director Tarantino. He has had prominent roles in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. Additionally, he had a brief role as a narrator in Inglourious Basterds and as an organ player in Kill Bill: Vol. 2. However, he did not appear in Tarantino’s most recent movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Jackson’s performances in Tarantino movies are some of his best. Many would consider his role in Pulp Fiction to be his best as it is quoted so often. It even earned him his lone Oscar nomination when he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. However, Jackson says that his favorite role in any Tarantino movie comes in a different film.
Stephen in ‘Django Unchained’ is Samuel L. Jackson’s favorite role in a Quentin Tarantino movie
Django Unchained (2012) stars Jamie Foxx as a recently freed slave who teams up with a bounty hunter to find his wife. The duo finds Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) in Candyland, a large plantation run by Calvin Candie (Leonardo Dicaprio), a ruthless and brutal slave owner.
Stephen (Jackson) is one of Candie’s slaves who has a higher position than most and essentially serves as Candie’s right-hand man. In a 2019 interview with Esquire, Jackson said Stephen is his favorite role in a Tarantino movie because the character ran the plantation, despite being a slave himself.
“I love f***ing Stephen,” Jackson said. “I mean, the dude ran that f***ing plantation. Candyland was his f***ing plantation…Dude’s writing the bills. [Stephen is] making sure the crops get planted. He’s making sure the slaves get sold. He runs that place…He ain’t really got no kids of his own because he ain’t have time to do that. But Leo was basically his kid. And Candyland is his world. He knows outside Candyland, he’s just another [slave] on the plantation.”
Jackson’s favorite Tarantino film that he has been in is ‘Jackie Brown’
While Stephen is his favorite role, Jackie Brown is Jackson’s favorite Tarantino movie. In Jackie Brown, Jackson plays Ordell Robbie, an unpredictable arms dealer whose quick temper leads to violent tendencies.
In a 2021 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jackson was asked to name his five favorite movies that he has performed in. Jackson’s top five are The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), A Time to Kill (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), One Eight Seven (1997), and The Red Violin (1998).
Jackie Brown is an underrated Tarantino movie as it isn’t considered one of his best, but it’s still a great movie nonetheless. Tarantino has said that he only wants to make 10 movies before he retires from filmmaking. Since he is at 9 (Kill Bill is two parts, but the director counts it as one), let’s hope that Jackson is cast and gives another fantastic performance.
