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Samuel L. Jackson: I’m proud of my catchphrases
Turbo star talks his slow-start career and increasing salary demands.
Samuel L. Jackson is king of the Hollywood catchphrase, able to boom bible quotes and shout at snakes to get off his “mother f**king plane”.
He doesn’t mind that fans holler his immortal lines at him in the street though; in fact he’s pretty grateful.
“I’m very fortune. I mean there’s [‘Snakes On A Plane’], there’s Pulp Fiction, there’s ‘Time To Kill’. People will yell ‘I hope they burn in hell!’” he told Yahoo Movies UK whilst promoting new DreamWorks animation ‘Turbo’. “Actors go through their whole careers and nobody remembers one phrase they ever uttered. So, I’ve been fortune in that people yell catchphrases at me all the time, which is very cool.”
Watch our full interview with Jackson, above.
[Jackson: Iron Man ‘might work’ without Downey Jr.]
The now 64-year-old opened up to us about his Hollywood acting experience, revealing some of the obstacles he’s faced in a famously slow-starting 40 year career.
“I’m in a business that, you know, [it’s] sort of like throw a dice, you see what happens,” he said. “But as usual, it’s that sort of thing where you finally figure out that the odds of you getting to a particular place are very low.”
“Sometimes [the obstacle is] other people’s mind sets about who a character is, or what the character is. And that’s not, you know, just race sometimes. And at a certain point, sometimes the biggest obstacle becomes your salary,” he laughed. “Especially these days, they’re going ‘Well you know we can’t afford you’.”
[Samuel L Jackson definitely wants a part in Star Wars 7]
Now one of the all time highest grossing stars in Hollywood, Jackson spent years grafting in the theatre. He eventually bagged some small supporting roles in several Spike Lee movies, and gangster classic ‘Goodfellas’, before he made his long overdue breakthrough in 1994’s ‘Pulp Fiction’, at the age of 45.
“Somebody told me a long time ago there’s a way to learn everything about this business, and you can be great at it, but it’s all about being in the right place at the right time,” he reflected. “Nobody can teach you that. Perseverance pays off… And you know, being a snail, sometimes being slow and steady, that tortoise/hare tale does work.”
Jackson, who starred as Nick Fury in last year’s ‘Avengers Assemble’ also admitted he thought the billion dollar ‘Iron Man’ franchise “might work” without Marvel co-star Robert Downey Jr. You can read the full story here.
‘Turbo’, co-starring Ryan Reynolds, is out now in the UK.
