Five Hotbed Issues from 'Lakeview Terrace'
By Hollywood.com Staff
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Friday, September 19, 2008
#5: The Politically Correct Issue
Samuel L. Jackson: “For me [not using the “n” word] is not real. There are things that happen in movies and I sit there and I can get taken out of a movie by something that's not real just because you know I go, ‘Aw damn, it was going all so well till they did that.’ I don't know. There are several different schools of thought on set about that. I've said it . I've said nigger several times while we've been shooting and everybody's like [gasps], so that's just how it happens. I say it because I want to say it because I'm emphasizing a point. [In one scene from Lakeview Terrace] I come out of the police precinct and all the white cops are standing there, and they're laughing. When I walk up, everybody stops so in my mind if that happens it's kind of like you were talking about me. So to kill all of that, I say, ‘I've heard nigger jokes before and they all go oh no, no, no’ so it's kind of like oh OK. So it kind of puts people on the defensive. The whole Imus thing started something else and then it's like we're going to bury the “n” word. You can't. You really can't. It's going to be said forever. Somebody's going to say it. Everybody can say it's politically incorrect. It's not cool. You can't say this, you can't say that but people say what they are going to say. Words are out there and words are words. You understand them or you don't understand them. You talk in context. You know it's kind of like people making you say, well you can't say the n word. Well, I know you meant nigger. The “n” word doesn't make it any better. It's just as bad. You know it's like when I grew up in the South, white people who were trying to be OK said ‘nigras.' Come on. It's like, shit that sounds just as bad. Or the colored people. That's just as bad. Either you mean it or you don't mean it or you don't mean anything but you're just being descriptive. You're saying whatever it means. In Jackie Brown I said nigger what? Six times in one sentence. Spike ran out of the theatre, but it was cool.
“I mean dumb things that have happened in movies. For instance, there's this big scene in [Lakeview Terrace] that's really great. It's a bachelor party and we've got three strippers at the party, but it's a PG movie so there ain't no titties. It's kind of like, man, we've got three strippers in the house and ain't nobody got their top off. How does that work? You even shoot a girl from the back with just her back bare. At least it gives the impression that she didn't have her top on but you can't see a girl standing there with her bra and her top on. Drunk cops! You have 40 drunk cops in the house and three strippers and nobody's got their top off? I don't f**king think so.