Samuel L. Jackson reveals how ‘Malcolm X’ caused falling out with Spike Lee

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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When Spike Lee won his long overdue first competitive Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards, he literally jumped into presenter Samuel L. Jackson’s arms for a hug. But there was a moment when the longtime friends probably couldn’t have imagined they’d share such a public embrace.

In a new interview with Vulture, Jackson – who appeared in early Lee films like “School Daze,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo Better Blues,” and “Jungle Fever” – explained he had a falling out with the filmmaker over “Malcolm X.”

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“I actually read with most of the people who auditioned for ‘Malcolm X.’ I was supposed to be the guy that turned Malcolm X on to Islam in prison. I forget who played that role,” Jackson revealed. Albert Hall played the role of Baines in the film and turned in an indelible performance in the part. He later appeared in Lee’s film “Get on the Bus.”

But back to Jackson and Lee. According to Jackson, playing Baines came down to money. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to work for no scale-plus-10,’” Jackson recalled. Around this time, he had won Best Supporting Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for “Jungle Fever.” Jackson said his newfound fame led to an offer to star in “White Sands” with Willem Dafoe. He took the role and then didn’t work with Lee again until 2013’s “Oldboy.”

“[Our] wives would interact often, and we would all end up going to dinner together,” Jackson told Playboy in 2013. “Our relationship healed over those dinners and conversations. He told me at dinner he was going to remake ‘Oldboy,’ and I was like, ‘Can I be in it?’”

While Jackson has mended fences with Lee (he also appeared in Lee’s film “Chi-Raq”), his relationship with another frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino has gotten complicated. Jackson appeared in six of Tarantino’s films, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” and “Django Unchained,” but was absent from 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

“When I saw ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ I mean, how many Black people are in that movie? Maybe three,” Jackson said of Tarantino’s latest film. “It was kind of like watching ‘Goodfellas.’ When I was in ‘Goodfellas,’ it’s like me and somebody else.”

Asked if he told Tarantino about that complaint, Jackson said no. “I’ve only seen him once since the movie came out and that was at my Oscar ceremony. He came to that. That’s the only time I’ve seen him and I wasn’t going to talk about ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ that night,” Jackson said.

As for whether Jackson will appear in Tarantino’s final film, “The Movie Critic,” Jackson offered a “no comment” about his possible participation.

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