Samuel L. Jackson recently gave a fantastic interview to Rolling Stone. He was promoting his Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, where he reprises his role as Nick Fury. Disney/Marvel put together a great team of actors for the series, including Emilia Clarke, Ben Mendelsohn and Olivia Colman. What struck me, as I was reading this interview, is how much joy Sam has for his job, how much he loves his fellow actors, how much he cares about the franchises he’s a part of. Like, he actually watches all of those Marvel movies, even the ones he’s not in, and he cares about the storylines and why Nick Fury wasn’t around for that movie or that series. Speaking of, he’s also got The Marvels coming out later this year, which reunites him with someone he clearly loves dearly: Brie Larson. Brie is his girl, he adores her. Some highlights from Rolling Stone:

He wasn’t pushing for Nick Fury to have his own series: “I actually have not. My biggest concern with Marvel was trying to keep them from killing me more than anything else. [Laughs] I kind of liked the gig! When they called me in to tell me what’s going on, I always thought they were trying to kill me. They didn’t let me go to Wakanda, which I was kind of upset about. How could Nick Fury not know about Wakanda? They said, “Well, you do know but you can’t go.” I always wanted to tell the story about who Nick was before he had these superhero friends — when he lived in the shadow world as a spy, and how he connected with these people. Secret Invasion is not a superhero movie. It’s gritty and dark.

Whether he’s been fairly compensated in his nine-picture deal with Marvel: “Every deal was negotiable. [Laughs] Every movie was a negotiated deal. It wasn’t like, “You do one movie and the next one will be X more dollars.” It was better than that. It’s been equitable in terms of what it’s been and how it’s played out. But there are things I wish I’d been in that I wasn’t in, like Civil War. If the kids are fighting, why isn’t Nick Fury there to send them to their rooms? They never explained that to me.

The sexism directed at Brie Larson: “Brie’s a stronger person than people give her credit for. We had done Kong together, which was not the most wonderful experience for either of us. We became great friends during that particular experience because we were having such a hard time. Then, when she was doing her movie [Unicorn Store] and trying to get a particular actor, I was in the makeup trailer with her and was like, “Why are you trying to hire this other actor and not trying to get me to do your movie?” She said, “I didn’t think you’d ever do it… so, will you?” And I was like, “Let’s do it.” Then, we bonded through the election while we were doing her movie when Donald Trump won. She was broken and I was like, “Don’t let ‘em break you. You have to be strong now.” Then, when she got Captain Marvel, she called me and was like, “They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?” And I was like, “Hell yeah! Let’s do it!” But she’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.

Difficult times in America: “The world seems to be in as hard a place as it’s always been. As a child of the Sixties, watching what happened at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and seeing the police beating those demonstrators — and those were young white kids — I learned there’s a certain kind of thing that the powers that be don’t want us doing. One of them is protesting what they think they want us to do. So, when George Floyd happened, it was great to see all the different faces of kids out there fighting the injustice and what the power was doing once again to keep you from having an open mind or keep you from creating change that is not the change they want made. That part has not changed. In my opinion, it’s kind of worse. They used to hide it. Now, they don’t hide it anymore! When I grew up in segregation, I knew which white people didn’t want to be bothered with me and I knew how they felt about me. I know how the Republicans feel about me now because of what my mindset is. When I see Trump, I see the same rednecks I saw when I was growing up who called me “n*****” and tried to keep me in my place. That’s what the Republican Party is to me. They’re doing it to young people, gay people. They don’t care who you are. If you’re not them, you’re the enemy.

Working with Olivia Colman on Secret Invasion: “Amazing! So amazing. I walked in the room that morning when we were supposed to shoot our first scene together. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we both burst out laughing. It was just, “OH MY GOD!?!” It was so great. Emilia Clarke was amazing. Ben [Mendelsohn] has got chops that are out of this world. And, as many Marvel movies as Don [Cheadle] and I have been in, I don’t think we’ve ever had a conversation until Secret Invasion. And I’ve known Don forever! We never had a moment onscreen that was meaningful together until this particular thing. I had an amazing time doing stuff with people I truly admire and watch. I even went to work when I wasn’t working just to watch Martin Freeman because I wished I was in the scene with him.

[From Rolling Stone]

He was asked about Quentin Tarantino’s last film, The Movie Critic, and whether he has a role in it and he doesn’t know, but he hopes that QT will write a part for him. He also talks about how much he wants to do a Korean film or work with a Korean director, because he loves the Korean films being made now, and now I hope Bong Joon-ho hears that sh-t and writes a role for him. Anyway, I love what he said about political activism and how the MAGA crowd is just made up of the same old bigots and rednecks. It’s true.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.