In an insightful conversation with Vanity Fair, Samuel L. Jackson shared a valuable piece of advice he received from Bruce Willis during the filming of the 1994 action blockbuster, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Willis, reflecting on his own career, advised Jackson to find a character that would be a constant, reliable draw for audiences, even when other projects might not fare as well financially. "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 recounted.
Willis illustrated his point with examples from other action stars: "Arnold [Schwarzenegger]'s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]'s got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane." This advice didn't fully resonate with Jackson until he landed the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a nine-picture deal to portray the iconic character, Jackson realized, "Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now."
Jackson's journey as Nick Fury began with a cameo in the post-credits scene of 2008's Iron Man. He then fully embraced the role in Iron Man 2 in 2010. Since then, Jackson has reprised the role in an impressive total of 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His most recent appearances as Nick Fury were in the 2023 film The Marvels and the series Secret Invasion, as well as 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 extensive contract, Jackson told GQ in September 2024, "I knew I had a nine-picture deal when Kevin [Feige] said, 'We wanna offer you a nine-picture deal.' I was like, 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?'" Unaware of the rapid pace of the Marvel production schedule, he added, "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."
