From one Hollywood legend to another, Samuel L. Jackson shared a valuable piece of advice he received from Bruce Willis during the filming of their 1994 blockbuster, Die Hard With a Vengeance. In a special piece celebrating Willis' 70th birthday, Jackson revealed to Vanity Fair the wisdom Willis imparted: "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."
Willis used the examples of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Rambo, and his own John McClane to illustrate his point. Jackson didn't fully grasp the advice until he landed the role of Nick Fury. "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,'" Jackson reflected.
Jackson first introduced audiences to Nick Fury in a post-credits scene cameo in 2008's Iron Man. He then fully embraced the role in 2010's Iron Man 2. Since then, Jackson has reprised the character in 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His latest appearances as Nick Fury include the 2023 film The Marvels, the series Secret Invasion, and a voice role in the Season 2 finale of the animated series Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
In a humorous reflection on his Marvel contract, Jackson shared with GQ in September 2024, "I knew I had a nine-picture deal when Kevin [Feige] said, he was like, ‘We wanna offer you a nine-picture deal’ I was like, 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?'" He was surprised by the rapid pace of the Marvel production schedule, noting, "It's not the quickest process in the world and people don't do it, so I didn't know they were gonna make nine movies in like two-and-a-half years. Which is kind of crazy. I was like 'Oh s—t, I'm using up my contracts!' but it worked out."
