LOS ANGELES — If you want to soak in a moment of pure joy — and who doesn't these days? — watching Samuel L. Jackson receive an honorary Oscar from Denzel Washington at this year's Governors Awards should do the trick.
Jackson and Washington go way back to early New York theater days when Washington was an understudy on a play called "The Mighty Gents" that Jackson was doing for the Public Theater under Joseph Papp. Washington ended up going on stage opening night after the actor he was backing up was fired. And, of course, Washington killed it.
"He just showed me the review of that show not long ago," Jackson says. He kept the review? "Of course, he did!" Jackson says, bursting out in laughter.