Denzel Washington was damn happy to give Samuel L. Jackson his honorary Oscar last night
Last night's Governors Awards also featured appearances from Bill Murray, Elaine May, Danny Glover, and more
Aux News Samuel L. Jackson
The art of picking the right presenter for any given award is a tricky one; the more personal the connection between the two parties, and the more genuine the appreciation the presenter has for the presentee, the better. So it’s very hard to fault the organizers of last night’s Governors Awards, the honorary arm of the annual Academy Awards, who really knocked it out of the park this year—most notably by tapping Denzel Washington to present a lifetime achievement award to his old friend Samuel L. Jackson.
(If you want to see more very excellent moments from the not-broadcast-on-TV event, the above thread from The New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan is a real treat.)
Seriously: Just watch the relish with which Washington rattles off both Jackson’s charitable work and his career stats, highlighting, among other things, that Jackson probably has the largest box office take of any single Hollywood actor, ever. “$27 billion in box office,” he notes, before repeating, “$27 billion.” When it’s time to hand off the statue—Jackson’s first, which remains just bizarre—Washington’s enthusiasm is undeniable. (So is Jackson’s, who, clearly emotional, took time to thank “QT,” his wigmaker, and his wife during his acceptance speech.)
Not that the other presenters at the award ceremony—normally held in November or December, but bumped back to Oscars weekend this year due to COVID concerns—were slouches. Bill Murray was effusive in his praise for comedy legend Elaine May (who cracked Ukraine jokes), while John Lithgow paid hearty tribute to frequent Ingmar Bergman collaborator Liv Ullman. All three were receiving honorary Oscars for lifetime achievements, while Danny Glover was also recognized with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Glover didn’t shy away from the political topics of the day, either, referencing both The 1619 Project and the trumped-up controversy surrounding “critical race theory” in his acceptance speech.
The Governors Awards date back to 2009, when they were created to… hmm. What’s a nice way to put this? “Elevate” (?) all those honorary awards the Academy was no longer necessarily interested in spending TV time on broadcasting as part of the ceremony proper. (See also the controversial decision to “elevate” eight of the show’s technical categories out of the broadcast outright this year.) Always a smaller affair, it was even smaller than usual this year, with strict COVID protocols and vaccination requirements in place for attendees.
24 Comments
Boy, I’m sure glad we don’t get to watch any of this Sunday! Looking forward to all of those AWESOME musical performances instead. 🙂
I’m sure it’s still an honor to get an “honorary” award but SLJ deserves a “real” one. Dude is a legend.
I’m picking up a strong “fantastic career overlooked by the Academy until it uses an OK ‘late-middle-career’ performance as a chance to make up for it” vibe.See: Pacino and “Scent of a Woman.”
They should give it to him for the next Marvel movie he’s in, that’ll kill two birds with one stone; giving SLJ an Oscar and giving an Oscar to a Marvel movie to shut up all the people who throw a fit whenever an MCU movie isn’t a Best Picture nominee.
While not very common, a few have won competitive Oscars after their honorary ones. Henry Fonda and Paul Newman did it within a year or two of their Honorary ones. Jackson seems healthy at 73 – he could still do it.
73!? That motherfucker has found the Fountain Of Youth and is hoarding it, dammit!!!!
yeah, WTF!! I just assumed Denzel was the older actor in this case.
Agreed. He wasn’t even nominated for his performance in “Jungle Fever” that was so amazing that the Cannes Film Festival had to invent a Supporting Actor category for that one year so that they could give it to Jackson. And while I understand why Martin Landau won for his brilliant take on Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood,” SMJ was iconic in “Pulp Fiction.” I’d have felt a tie was justified that year.
Landau had the more difficult role.
You’d think he’d have already won the Oscar for “The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word ‘Fuck’ in a Serious Screenplay.”
That’s the Rory awards. Unfortunately Earth films don’t qualify for those, because we’re on the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy.
Belgium that. They should add it to the Oscars.
Fun fact: In his youth, Jackson suffered from severe stuttering. He found that saying the word “Motherfucker” helped break his stutter, allowing him to finish talking.
“Most Gratuitous *But Still Awesome and Rewarding*” LOL
… so, more or less, the “and more” covers the single award winner not mentioned in the headline and subheading?
I initially read it as Denzel had won an Oscar and was giving it to SLJ for some reason.
English is hard.
Eight people appeared. The headline lists five.
This is exactly the kind of thing that would get me to tune in to the Academy Awards.
That is what I was thinking. Put this on TV and I would watch it. The award for best documentary short, probably not.
I just want to see him get his award, then for his speech he leans over into the microphone, says “Motherfucker”, and walks off.
Give to charities and initiatives. They still need us!
I met Mr. Jackson about 10 years ago in NYC (Times Square to be exact) and he is every bit a legendary actor as he is a person. Excellent human being.
Best Animated Short isn’t a tech award, damnit!
Denzel also played an important part in helping Will Smith calm down and comforting Jada during the commercials after that slap.