Samuel L. Jackson is still in shock at how fast Marvel got through his initial nine-picture deal.
The actor, who has played Nick Fury in a dozen projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, looked back at some of his most iconic characters in a recent interview with GQ magazine. He first appeared as the master strategist and superspy in 2008’s Iron Man but went on to star in eight more MCU films within a decade timespan.
“I knew I had a nine-picture deal,” Jackson said. “[Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] said that, ‘We’re going to offer you 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. I didn’t know they were going to make nine movies in like two and a half years (Laughs). It’s just kind of crazy! Oh shit, I’m using up my contracts. It worked out.”
Though his Marvel deal ended with 2019’s Captain Marvel, he wasn’t planning on retiring his character anytime soon. He has also appeared in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home, 2023’s The Marvels and headlined his own Disney+ series Secret Invasion.
He told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 that he would happily play Nick Fury into his 80s. “I could be the Alec Guinness of Marvel movies,” the Oscar-nominated actor said at the time.
Jackson also previously told the Los Angeles Times that he would rather be working on blockbuster Marvel films than searching for potentially Oscar-winning roles.
“As jaded as I wanted to be about it, you know thinking, ‘Well, I should have won an Oscar for this or should have won for that, and it didn’t happen.’ Once I got over it many years ago, it wasn’t a big deal for me,” The Hateful Eight actor told the outlet in 2022. “I always have fun going to the Oscars. I always look forward to getting a gift basket for being a presenter. I give stuff to my relatives; my daughter and my wife would take stuff out. It’s cool. … But otherwise, I was past it.”
Jackson continued, “I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know: ‘If you do this movie, you’ll win an Oscar.’ No, thanks. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.”