Samuel L Jackson talks Tarantino, Trump and addiction during candid public talk at Diff

Jackson opened up about his early, hedonistic theatre days, dwelling on how his breakout role in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever – for which he was awarded a special, one-off Supporting Actor award at Cannes Film Festival in 1991 – was the first job he did sober, after quitting alcohol and drugs.

Samuel L Jackson speaks during his question-and-answer session at the Dubai International Film Festival on Friday. Courtesy Diff
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Judging by the sense of hysteria in the queues of fans waiting outside – and the electricity that spread throughout the room when the man himself entered the Madinat Theatre on December 9 afternoon – the intimate In Conversation event with Hollywood legend Samuel L Jackson is a clear contender for the hottest ticket of the 13th Dubai International Film Festival.

Despite a reputation in the media for exhibiting a certain air of aloof antagonism, the 67-year-old actor – who was dressed in a sharp grey suit and white flat cap and trainers – appeared warm and relaxed during his hour-long talk, candidly reflecting on his extensive screen career, which spans 44 years and more than 160 credits.

“People tell me I’m in every movie ever made,” he begins with a chuckle.

Jackson opened up about his early, hedonistic theatre days, dwelling on how his breakout role in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever – for which he was awarded a special, one-off Supporting Actor award at Cannes Film Festival in 1991 – was the first job he did sober, after quitting alcohol and drugs.

“It was fun and torture,” he says of those early days. “I actually sat and wondered if I would be able to act without a substance, if I would be a fun person to be around, if I would be brave enough to step in front of a camera or onstage.”

Jackson also told how after an unsuccessful audition for Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs, the director approached him to play Jules in what would become Pulp Fiction. While the iconic, career-defining role was specially written for him, some back-room cold feet led to Jackson being called into a last-minute audition, featuring the classic, closing diner scene.

“That’s the film I can’t run from,” says Jackson, “and I don’t – I embrace it. At least once a day somebody will say to me ‘a quarter pounder with cheese’.”

Jackson has became a regular Tarantino collaborator, appearing in Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Volume 2, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.

Tarantino bans “anything with an on-off switch” from his sets, says Jackson, encouraging the crew to socialise and talk about ideas rather than fiddle with their phones.

For all his openness, Jackson is not without a sense of his own worth, dropping razor sharp quips into his charismatic drawl.

"How the hell did I not get an Academy Award for that?" he declared after a moving clip from 1996 legal drama A Time to Kill.

This blunt, barbed wit was turned on two recent Oscar hopefuls – Jackson is a voting member of the Academy – both of which are screening at this year’s Diff.

"I guess it is amazing – to some people," he deadpans, when talking about director Kenneth Lonergan's drama Manchester by the Sea.

On Will Smith vehicle Collateral Beauty, Jackson is more openly scathing.

“I’m like: Really? Another one of those ‘life is so wonderful, if you just make time to sniff the roses’ [movies]?” he says. “If that’s what you want – great.”

When the floor was opened to the audience, the actor dodged a direct question about US president-elect Donald Trump, but made his feelings clear earlier in a broader conversation about racism in America, which drew on Jackson’s early life growing up in segregated Tennessee.

“I’m not confused, I’m not shocked – because I’ve lived through it in another time,” he says of Trump’s election, with clear and bitter irony.

“I’ve lived through apartheid in my country. And I understand who these people are who want to ‘Make America great again’.”

rgarratt@thenational.ae