NEW YORK (AP) – Samuel L. Jackson’s family and friends celebrated the actor and director’s storied career of box office hits, extraordinary characters and explosive one-liners Wednesday night at New York Modern Times. The museum was filled with curses and laughter. At the annual movie benefit.
Jackson, known for his infamous F-bomb, stuck to a more sentimental speech at the charity event, as friends and family honored him with his chosen one-liners.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play a variety of characters and learned something new about the human experience with each one. And I always carry some of that with me as I continue to work. ” he said.
Jackson, 75, built a Hollywood legacy that spanned four decades. From action-packed blockbusters like Mace Windu in Star Wars and Nick Fury in the Marvel Universe to Quentin Tarantino’s foul-mouthed Jules in Pulp Fiction and Ordell in Django Unchained. Jackson has stood the test of time, including his iconic character. Once again, he is able to effortlessly transform himself with each new role. His versatility is what propelled him to movie stardom.
However, Jackson’s career is not only defined by on-screen acting in movies and television. He also took his film talents to Broadway, playing Martin Luther King Jr. in “Mountaintop” and Doaker Charles in “The Piano Lesson.”
In between clips of Jackson’s illustrious career, Jackson’s close circle of family and friends, dating back to his college days at Morehouse, took to the stage to pay tribute to Jackson.
His wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, joked that she had doubts about Jackson’s acting ability until she saw him in “Pulp Fiction.” She said Jackson was studying to become a marine biologist before deciding to pursue acting.
“Right away I saw ‘Pulp Fiction,’ and I was sitting in the theater and I started crying,” she said. He said my life was over and he was going to be a movie star. ”
Actor Denzel Washington first worked with Jackson in 1979, and they have since had a 45-year friendship. He recently produced an adaptation of “The Piano Lesson” for Netflix featuring a longtime friend of August Wilson. At the event, Washington said he remembers learning from watching Jackson perform on stage as the lead actor when he was once an understudy.
“I wish I could have been half the character actor he was,” Washington said.
Film director Spike Lee first saw Jackson acting with his wife on a college campus. Since college, Lee has starred Jackson in Jungle Fever, Do the Right Thing, and Cheerak.
“I was blown away by their talent,” he said of Jackson and Richardson-Jackson. “I thought that if I became a director, God willing, these great artists would star in my films.”
Actress Brie Larson and director George Lucas sent video messages praising Jackson’s impressive catalog and loving personality. Other speakers on the night included Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon and actor Walton Goggins, who shared kind words and a few F-bombs for Jackson.
As the latest MoMA Film Benefit recipient, Jackson joins previous winners including Martin Scorsese, Tom Hanks, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Quentin Tarantino. The New York Museum of Art’s 16th annual benefit, presented in partnership with Chanel, raises funds to preserve and add films to the museum’s collection.
“Tonight, as we celebrate film, MoMA will acquire and preserve films that changed lives and ignited the dreams of a little black child sitting in a segregated Tennessee movie theater. Remember the power you have to inspire future generations who will benefit from the work that stands before you right now,” Jackson said in his speech.
