In a candid, intense moment in Samuel L. Jackson's first podcast appearance, the Oscar-winning actor, like never before, discusses a diabolical encounter that nearly took his life a few days before Christmas in 1988.
Jackson recalls the memory of Mad, Sad & Bad, presented by singer Paloma Faith, and he dives into it the way only he can: gritty, truthful, accompanied by a dose of humor that makes the horror seem bearable. He explained how his foot had gotten caught in the door of the train's last car just as it started to move.
"I was in the middle door in the back car, and it was a long-as platform," Jackson said. "And the train took off when that door closed on my foot. So I'm sitting there, thinking, I'm like, 'Oh, f*k, I'm going to die.'"
Check out this Articles.
It would be a terrifying thought for anyone, but for Jackson, now 76, it was a blink-of-an-eye transformation from a typical commute to a life-and-death ordeal. As the train pulled him across the platform, he could not grasp anything or find anything to hold on to. It was just him, a trapped foot, and the tunnel was rapidly getting closer.
"I could see the tunnel in front of me," he said. "And I couldn't think of anything that I could hold of and cling to, and keep from getting killed and tear my clothes up and get on this train."
It's like a movie, except there was no script, but it was real; it was rough and could have ended in catastrophic tragedy. But in what might be considered the transportation equivalent of an unlikely hero saving the day in a Hollywood third act, an unlikely hero stepped up to help: a fellow passenger on crutches who, as he slowly made his way down the aisle, got to the emergency cord and pulled it just in time.
"Everybody else was trying to open the door, get my foot out, take my shoe off," Jackson said. He was heading for the emergency cord, and finally, he pulled it, and it stopped it.
Jackson, meanwhile, was nursing his wounds but later admitted he tore his ACL and meniscus and had to undergo surgery, spending the better part of a year on crutches. He sued the New York City Transit Authority and was granted $540,000 in a jury settlement. But at that moment, as he was dragged, his thoughts weren't about lawsuits or knees.
"All I could think was, it was going to be a really sad Christmas for me," he said. "Damn," I was like, "it's gonna be fked up. It's gonna be a fked up Christmas this year.'"
When prompted on whether the near-death experience changed his perspective on life, Jackson gave a typically blunt answer: "Fk no, I'm Black, and i have my problems… I was born in the era of segregation, so I've been, you know, struggling against existential nonsense my entire life." Only Samuel L. Jackson could live through a TA shutdown, speak hard truths, and help you laugh through the trauma.
0 Comments