Pulp Fiction: Why Samuel L. Jackson Was Angry He Had To Audition For Jules
Of the countless roles Samuel L. Jackson has taken throughout his acting tenure, few are as iconic as Jules Winnfield. Jackson played the "Pulp Fiction" favorite to perfection, pulling off each and every one of his now-legendary lines with ease. Bearing in mind his stellar performance, one could argue that the role was practically made for him. However, it actually could've gone to actor Paul Calderón, had it not been for a remarkable audition that Jackson put on — one that he wasn't happy about having to go through in the first place.
The story, as recounted by Vanity Fair, goes that director Quentin Tarantino told Jackson that all he had to do was read for the part, not audition. However, Calderón blew Tarantino away, meaning that all of a sudden, Jackson had to prove that he was the right pick for the Jules character. Between this sudden competition, the need for him to go audition for the part in Los Angeles, and a producer mistaking him for Laurence Fishburne, Jackson was angry, to say the least. He used that anger to turn in a fiery audition that Tarantino couldn't deny. Thus, the part was his.
Tarantino originally envisioned Laurence Fishburne as Jules
Long before Samuel L. Jackson proved himself a standout as Jules in "Pulp Fiction," Quentin Tarantino had a different actor at the forefront of his mind as he wrote the role. The director actually crafted the character around Laurence Fishburne and, naturally, he offered the future "Matrix" actor the part. As we now know, Fishburne turned the project down, but why would he pass on a character literally tailor-made for him? Well, he explained to Vulture in an August 2020 interview that it came down to his feelings on how the movie handles heroin use.
"I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with. I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive. For me, it's not just my character," he explained to the publication. Otherwise, though, Fishburne stated that the role of Jules itself had nothing to do with his decision to pass on "Pulp Fiction." Additionally, he absolutely loved how Jackson portrayed the character, highlighting that he was so effective that it practically launched him into the Hollywood stratosphere.
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Jackson terrified with his audition
It's clear that Samuel L. Jackson wowed the "Pulp Fiction" creators with his audition for the part of Jules, but how exactly did he do it? As it turns out, the actor channeled all of his frustration over the situation into acting out what is arguably "Pump Fiction's" most iconic scene: the interrogation stare down between Jules and Brett from the very beginning of the film. Only, for this version, Quentin Tarantino and producers Richard Gladstein and Lawrence Bender were the ones in the uncomfortable hot seat.
In an interview with Far Out Magazine, Gladstein recalled Jackson's audition. Tarantino was late to the meeting, so Jackson had taken the time to grab lunch. When he returned for the audition, the tension was palpable. "In comes Sam with a burger in his hand and a drink in the other hand and stinking like fast food," Gladstein said. "Me and Quentin and Lawrence were sitting on the couch, and he walked in and just started sipping that shake and biting that burger and looking at all of us. I was scared s**tless. I thought that this guy was going to shoot a gun right through my head. His eyes were popping out of his head. And he just stole the part."
Even though he had to go through a nightmarish audition process to get the job, it seems that Jackson knocked his Jules performance out of the park before the cameras had even started rolling.