Samuel L. Jackson Explains Star Wars Lightsaber’s Pulp Fiction Reference

Star Wars actor Samuel L. Jackson admits it was not his idea to put a Pulp Fiction reference on his character’s iconic lightsaber. Jackson is one of the most recognizable actors around today. Having played a role in successful franchises like Star Wars and the MCU and working with well-known directors like Quentin Tarantino, almost everyone has seen Jackson in something. More importantly, nearly everyone can quote a line or reference a character that Jackson has played over the years. Perhaps no reference is more well known than the wallet owned by his character Jules in Pulp Fiction which reads “Bad Mother F***er.”

Many know Jackson as the Master Jedi Mace Windu from George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel trilogy. Windu is, of course, the character who sparked waves of controversy with the release of Attack of the Clones for being the only character in the whole series to carry a purple lightsaber. While it has since been written into the Star Wars mythos exactly why Windu carries this lightsaber color, true fans know that the real reason is simple. Jackson wanted it to be purple, and he asked. Jackson also revealed back in 2013 that the handle of his lightsaber is engraved with the letters BMF for a certain explicit catchphrase, though to date, no in-world Star Wars explanation has been given for this.

In a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jackson has revealed that despite rumors he asked for the Pulp Fiction engraving on his lightsaber, it was actually a gift. As Jackson puts it, the crew “did that because they loved me.” In fact, it was a complete surprise for the actor. According to Jackson, he was presented with his lightsaber at the end of the Attack of the Clones shoot by the crew, and he was shown that the initials had been engraved on the lightsaber’s on/off button. See his full quote below:

“No, they did that because they loved me. I didn’t ask for it. When they gave it to me, when the shoot was over, when they presented it to me, it had “BMF” on the on/off button.”

The revelation came as Fallon read Jackson some internet rumors about himself in an attempt to find out if they were true or not. While the rumor about Jackson asking for the engraving turned out to be false (after a fashion), many others turned out to be true including that the actor owns between three-hundred and eight-hundred Kangol hats, and that he never does more than three takes of a scene if he can help it. Perhaps the most impressive is that Jackson once beat golf-legend Tiger Woods in a game of golf, truly proving that Jackson has earned the BMF engraving.

Jackson is truly a legend in cinema and it seems that even the crews that work with him can tell. More importantly, he is an actor who is not afraid to ask for what he wants, like a controversial purple lightsaber (even if he didn’t ask for the engraving himself). Jackson has certainly earned his title as a BMF and he wears it with pride. From now on audiences can watch Star Wars and know that Mace Windu his channelling some Jules energy into that purple beam.

Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon