Samuel L. Jackson has spoken how Bruce Willis inspired him to take up his role as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his debut in Iron Man back in 2008.
Approaching nearly two decades in the role, Jackson could appear in the franchise again as Phase Six gets underway, and the actor revealed to Varietythat he was given some friendly advice by Willis, with whom he first collaborated with in 1995’s Die Hard with a Vengeance.
“He told me, ‘Hopefully you’ll be able to find a character that, when you make bad movies and they don’t make any money, you can always go back to this character everybody loves,’” recalled Jackson.
“He said, ‘Arnold’s [Schwarzenegger] got Terminator. Sylvester’s [Stallone] got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.’ It didn’t occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role – and I had a nine-picture deal – that, ‘Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now.’”
Despite the billion-dollar success of the franchise, Jackson shared that he wasn’t necessarily sure the series would achieve as much as it did, saying that his first thought upon the offer looked foolish with the benefit of hindsight.
“‘How long do you have to stay alive to make nine movies?’” he remembered thinking. “It’s not the quickest process in the world. I didn’t know they were going to make nine movies in like two and a half years. That’s kind of crazy.”
Whilst Jackson remains fond of his time within the MCU, the franchise will soon move in bold direction, with Joe Russo teasing that the upcoming Avengers films – Doomsday and Secret Wars – would “challenge audiences.”
Image: Samuel L. Jackson
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