Samuel L Jackson has credited Bruce Willis for giving him career advice, which led to his most lucrative role.
Jackson, 76, is one of the biggest names in Hollywood, currently holding the record for starring in the most films that have grossed $100m at the global box office.
That being said, it wasn’t until much later in his career that he landed a role that would help him maintain a steady acting career.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about his friend Willis, with whom he starred in Pulp Fiction and Unbreakable, Jackson revealed the sage words he received when the two were filming 1995 action sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance together.
Jackson said that Willis told him: “Arnold [Schwarzenegger]’s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]’s got Rocky, Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.”
At the time, Jackson did not have a franchise he was synonymous with – but that changed when he started playing Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, making a brief cameo at the end of Iron Man.
The character has since become one of the most recurring figures in the MCU, appearing in a dozen films and three TV shows, including 2023’s Secret Invasion.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, OK.’ And it didn’t occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role – and I had a nine-picture deal to be Nick Fury – that, Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now.”
Despite his obvious affection for the part, Jackson admitted that he was cautious about the ambitions of the MCU project. “I knew I had a nine-picture deal,” Jackson told GQ in 2024 but said that he privately thought: “How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?“
However, when he saw how quickly Marvel managed to produce the movies, he realised that his contract would be completed sooner rather than later.
He added: “It’s not the quickest process in the world [movie making], people don’t do it. I didn’t know they were going to make nine movies in like two and a half years. It’s kinda crazy, like, Oh sh--, I’m using up my contracts! But it worked out.”
The actor has appeared in numerous other franchises, includingStar Wars and The Incredibles, but Fury has been his most financially lucrative role to date.
In February 2023, Willis’s family announced he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The news came nearly a year after they revealed he would be “stepping away” from acting following an initial aphasia diagnosis.
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