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Academy Award-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson has revealed the advice Bruce Willis gave him that changed the course of his career. Jackson and Willis starred in films such as Pulp Fiction and Die Hard with a Vengeance together.
According to the legendary Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis encouraged Jackson to land a franchise role similar to what he had going with Die Hard. Willis also used Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator and Sylvester Stallone in Rambo as examples.
Jackson says that a few years after Willis’ advice, he landed the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his debut in 2008’s Iron Man and most recently appearing in 2023’s The Marvels.
“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,” Jackson said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
“He said, ‘Arnold’s got Terminator. Sylvester’s got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.’ 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.’”
Since debuting in the post-credit scene as Iron Man, Jackson has appeared in 12 Marvel films — Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Marvels — and three MCU television shows, which is the most of any actor in the franchise.
2025 is set to be another busy year for the always-busy 76-year-old actor as he’s set to star in two films this year: The Beast and Afterburn, while also filming a bevy of projects, as well.