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They really should consider changing up “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” to “six degrees of Samuel L. Jackson.” The guy works more than just about any other big name actor in Hollywood (he was in five movies this year, alone). If there’s a role that calls for an angry guy yelling “motherf**ker,” you can bet that it’s going to Samuel L. Jackson.
Even with all those IMDB credits under his belt, there have been some pretty big parts that Jackson missed out on over the years. With Jackson celebrating his 67th birthday last week and surely doing even more yelling in the The Hateful Eight, it’s an opportune time to look back at some of the roles he let slip by.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
These days, for Quentin Tarantino to make a movie without Samuel L. Jackson would just seem negligent. Sam is Quentin’s guy and has been since 1994. Two years earlier, however, Jackson had only just caught Tarantino’s eye thanks to his work in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever when he went in to read for the part of Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs, with his lines memorized and ready to go. Unfortunately for Jackson, he wound up reading his lines that day with Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender, who had a case of the giggles. The audition didn’t exactly go smoothly and the part, of course, wound up going to Tim Roth. Jackson recalled running into the Tarantino at Sundance where the director busted his chops about the role.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember you. How’d you like the guy who got your part?’ ” says Jackson. “I was like, ‘Really? I think you would have had a better movie with me in it.’
It was during that same encounter that Tarantino first mentioned to Jackson that he had him in mind for his next project — Pulp Fiction — and the rest is history.
Boogie Nights (1997)
One of the thing’s that made Don Cheadle’s character of Buck Swope so interesting is how out-of-place he seems in the porn business. The guy just wants to open a stereo store and start a family, but somehow ends up hanging around parties for an industry that he isn’t really cut out for. In the film’s DVD commentary, director Paul Thomas Anderson notes that his first choice for Buck was Jackson, but the actor was confused about the role and asked “What the hell is this?” before declining to audition. Had the part gone to Samuel L. Jackson, who carries a bit of an edge with him no matter what role he’s in, Buck almost certainly would have had a very different personality.
The Matrix (1999)
It’s best not to ask Samuel L. Jackson about the Matrix movies, but if you do make it abundantly clear that you’re not confusing him with Laurence Fishburne. A KTLA anchor found that out the hard way last year, and it wasn’t pretty.
While it was Laurence Fishburne who offered those pills to Neo, Matrix composer Don Davis revealed that at one time the Wachowski brothers were looking at both Jackson and Gary Oldman for the part of the all-knowing Morpheus.
Training Day (2001)
Nobody’s arguing that Denzel Washington didn’t kill it as crooked cop Alonzo Harris; the guy did win an Oscar for his role, after all. While it might seem like the gritty part was written for Washington, Samuel L. Jackson was actually supposed to be the guy yelling “King Kong ain’t got sh*t on me.” The project was originally slated to go into production with Davis Guggenheim directing Jackson and Matt Damon in the lead roles. Then Damon and Jackson dropped out for other projects, Washington came on board, and the director jumped ship, leaving Antoine Fuqua to take the reins.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
So not only did Jackson pass on another stellar role that went to Don Cheadle, but he essentially handed over a great part that another actor turned into Oscar gold. Ouch. Who’s to say if Hotel Rwanda would have turned out as well as it did if Jackson had taken the part. The role of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina provided a tremendous boost to Don Cheadle’s career, and Jackson admitted that he probably wasn’t the right guy for the job.
“I read Hotel Rwanda and couldn’t figure it out… I didn’t know if people wanted to come to the movies and see it. Don Cheadle did a great job.”