The Academy Awards said goddamn!
In addition to honoring the best films and performances of the year, the 2022 Oscars also drizzled a Pulp Fiction reunion over its broadcast, with stars Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, and Uma Thurman reuniting on stage for a moment that went down smoother than a Royale with cheese.
Thurman and Travolta continued their iconic dance from the film onto the stage alongside Jackson, as they pondered the meaning of the film.
“Pulp Fiction was a masterpiece, but these two think it was all about a dance contest,” Jackson said, later pointing to the prop he brought with him on stage before stressing that it’s actually “all about the contents of this briefcase,” which he said writer-director Quentin Tarantino used to make the audience “draw their own conclusions about the meaning of existence.”
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, and John Travolta hold a ‘Pulp Fiction’ reunion at the Oscars
The stars then opened the case to reveal its true contents: the envelope holding the name of the winner for Best Actor.
The trio was previously nominated for acting Oscars for their work in the Quentin Tarantino-directed film, which also scored a nod for Best Director at the 1995 ceremony. Tarantino won the Original Screenplay trophy for penning the film, which follows two hitmen (Jackson, Travolta) whose paths cross with a gangster’s wife (Thurman) in Los Angeles.
Elsewhere during the broadcast, Jackson was presented with an honorary Oscar for his decades-long career in the film industry.
Jackson and Travolta previously reunited to film a Capitol One commercial for the 2020 holiday season, with the latter playing a version of Santa Claus who dances a Christmas jig to “Run, Run Rudolph” using similar dance moves to those he used alongside Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Thurman and Tarantino have not worked together since the 2004 Kill Bill sequel. The actress later revealed to The New York Times that she sustained permanent neck and knee injuries while performing her own stunts for a scene.
“We’ve had our fights over the years. When you know someone for as long as I’ve known him, 25 years of creative collaboration… Did we have some tragedies take place? Sure. But you can’t reduce that type of history and legacy,” Thurman later told EW of whether or not she’d work with him again, adding that she would “if he wrote a great part.”
See the full list of winners from the 2022 Oscars here.
Check out more from EW’s The Awardist, featuring Oscars analysis, exclusive interviews, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year’s movies and performances.
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