Samuel L. Jackson Thought He Would Die Making Marvel Movies
It’s one thing to take a major role for a massive franchise and think you’ll be doing it for years and years. It’s another thing to sign a contract with a studio and think you’ll die before you even complete the run of movies you promised. Such it the case with Samuel L. Jackson, who signed on to Marvel thinking he’d likely pass away before his Nick Fury promise was fulfilled.
A Nine Movie Deal
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Samuel L. Jackson discussed his Nick Fury role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He said, “I knew I had a nine-picture deal…How long do you have to stay alive to make nine movies? It’s not the quickest process in the world.”
He isn’t wrong here. In a typical studio deal, Samuel L. Jackson would have had to go a long long time before he ever saw the final scene filmed to finish things off.
Samuel L. Jackson Is Shocked
But like Samuel L. Jackson said, Marvel was nothing if not quick and efficient with his Nick Fury role. He was in basically everything for a two-and-a-half-year stretch.
Samuel L. Jackson said, “ I didn’t know they were going to make nine movies in like two and a half years. It’s just kind of crazy!… I’m using up my contracts. It worked out.”
First In Iron Man
Samuel L. Jackson first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe all the way back in 2008 with Iron Man.
It was that movie which really kicked things off for this franchise, signaling a much bigger hero world beyond just Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. Sure, for Fury it was just a post-credits scene, but again, these were the beginning stages of the massive structure we see now.
Expanding The Role
After that, Samuel L. Jackson appeared as Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger over the next couple of years.
The role really started to expand with 2012’s Avengers and then Captain America: Winter Soldier, which saw him on the run from larger forces, including the Winter Soldier himself.
Oh, and the car attack scene from that film remains one of the best action sequences from the whole franchise.
Captain Marvel And Secret Invasion
We got a look a Nick Fury’s “origin story” with 2019s Captain Marvel which went back in time to detail everything from his role within S.H.I.E.L.D. to how he got the infamous eye patch. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has committed to giving us a ton of Nick Fury, which makes sense considering how great Samuel L. Jackson is in the role.
He even led his own Marvel series with Secret Invasion, the 2023 show on Disney+. In this one, Nick Fury is uncovering a Skrull conspiracy where they’ve infiltrated Earth and are impersonating people in the highest ranks. That’s another storyline Marvel built over years and years with Samuel L. Jackson at the center.
Samuel L. Jackson And Marvel
Samuel L. Jackson has been in over a dozen different Marvel productions through the years, making his character the most prolific (by far) from that sense.
And we are super glad he didn’t die in the role (in real life). Marvel was good to get the actor in everything they could, as quickly as possible.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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