Across his storied career, Samuel L Jackson has made quite a few films with Quentin Tarantino. Among them are a couple of the best movies ever made, but there’s one collaboration that Samuel L Jackson reckons didn’t get the attention it deserved.
The stylish thriller movie Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier and Robert De Niro alongside Jackson, came out in 1997, Tarantino’s follow-up to Pulp Fiction. Jackson returned to play another slimeball, Odell Robbie, and while it didn’t wow people at the time, Jackie Brown has since settled into being a beloved drama movie that has everything you’d expect from Tarantino.
Looking back, Jackson knows exactly why Jackie Brown didn’t get the credit it deserved. “The problem is, it wasn’t Pulp Fiction 2,” he tells Vulture. “It was a great movie. Possibly a better movie. But it wasn’t Pulp Fiction 2. That’s what people wanted, until they realized, ‘OK, this guy has other ideas about what he wants to do’.”
Jackson discusses how action movie Kill Bill changed people’s perspectives. “That didn’t happen until Kill Bill,” Jackson says. “I watched a lot of kung fu videos back in the day when I’d be in my trailer. Tarantino would pop in. I had this place that used to sell three kung fu movies for $5. Just off Times Square, right across from the bus station.”
He calls Odell one of his favorite characters, and honestly, we can’t argue. Like Jules in Pulp Fiction, Odell’s the kind of person you want to just follow around. Not be in his orbit, because that’s reckless, but just watch and see what happens. Jackson works opposite De Niro for a lot of Jackie Brown, and honestly that makes it one of the best ’90s movies in and of itself, even before you consider Grier or Robert Forster.
Jackson’s currently back in the MCU, for Marvel series Secret Invasion. You can sign up to Disney Plus below to watch!
We have guides on The Harvest in Secret Invasion, is Talos dead in Secret Invasion, and what is Gravik’s plan in Secret Invasion for more information. You might also enjoy reading about why Secret Invasion should’ve been an Avengers movie.
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