|
|
| |
SAMUEL L. JACKSON talks SNAKES ON A PLANE Interview by Mark Walters Movie stars don't come any cooler than Samuel L. Jackson. He's played a wide variety of memorable roles, and carries a screen presence that demands respect. His newest film, SNAKES ON A PLANE, is reminiscent of cheesy horror and action movies from the 80's... and that's just fine by Sam. In fact he threatened to boycott the film after the studio suggested changing the title to PACIFIC FLIGHT 121. But this film went through more than just title changes. It very quickly gained incredible buzz on the internet. Fans demanded it be R instead of it's intended PG-13, and vehemently requested some more "traditional" Sam Jackson dialogue be added. Strangely enough, the title stayed, and the fans got their wish. While attending San Diego Comic-Con in July of 2006, I had a chance to talk to Sam about the movie, and some of his other work. Here is what he had to say.
MARK: So do you like
doing horror movies?
MARK: Oh that's great!
Are you a Stephen King fan?
MARK: How much input
were you given during SNAKES ON A PLANE, like creative input?
Were you ever able to go in and say "Here's some ideas" or something to punch
up the scenes a little bit?
MARK: Kenan was saying
he did a lot of improv. MARK: "Yeah, we know you're funny!" ...that kind of thing? SAM: Yeah! "We're not doing that movie yet!" Heh. No, not really. There were things that I wanted to do, but knowing we were shooting a PG film you couldn't do. There were things that I wanted to say that I ended up saying because we went back to shoot 'em. That one line that the fans wanted was something I said in the middle of the shoot anyway. I kept saying to David "well why don't we just shoot this stuff anyway so we don't have to come back?" David even had a great idea, he wanted to shoot the "spoof" of the movie while we were doing it. It would have been a fantastic idea, just do one take where it's a spoof of what we're doing and move on. And we'll have that for the DVD or whatever later up. But those people in those suits...
MARK: Oh, the suits.
MARK: Hollywood has
really changed. It's not a lot of older guys running it. It's
young guys now.
MARK: They don't know
the business. On how his decision came about to do a movie like SNAKES ON A PLANE SAM: I did a movie like this because it's the kind of movie I'd go to see on a Saturday afternoon with my friends. And we couldn't wait for it to come out so we could go and yell at the screen, and reach around and touch somebody on the neck and they'd go AHHHH! I find myself a lot of times reading scripts and remembering a particular movie I saw when I was a kid. So that reminds me of it, and I thought "I need to do something like this" because I remember how much fun I had going to see it. A lot of times movies were let's leave home on a Saturday afternoon and sit at the movies all day, cause that's when they didn't put you out. You'd just stay there all day long. I'd be at the movies and watch a movie three times. That's the kind of movie I want to do sometimes. Something that's entertaining and fun, and somebody's afternoon escapism. And then there's the great story that comes along that you want to tell, and it's fun and fine to do as an actor, to stretch yourself and to give yourself a challenge as an actor. There's no plan for a big studio movie here or an independent movie here, because movies are ready to go when they're ready to go. So if the independent movie is ready to go I jump into it, and if the big studio movie is ready to go I jump into that. I just did a small film in Calgary, RESURRECTING THE CHAMP, going to do this film for the Weinsteins called 1408, and after that I'm doing kind of a big studio sci-fi movie called JUMPER. Concerning his likeness being used for Nick Fury in Marvel Comics' ULTIMATES series SAM: Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing if Nick Fury is actually gonna stay black when they get ready to make a movie. I see Avi Arad a lot because we live in the same neighborhood, and I kind of expressed my interest in... I always wanted to be Iron Man. Because he's kind of a rich dude, who created this stuff. He's not really kept as a superhero, he just creates stuff to make himself a superhero. But Nick Fury would be great. I've been reading Nick Fury since THE HOWLING COMMANDOS. I collect comics. I'm just like all these other people. I collect a lot of different comics books, I read comics, I'm in Golden Apple (huge comic shop in L.A.) twice a month. I collect comics on film, kind of geeky about that too. I collect Anime, kind of geeky about that too. (remember, we're at the world's largest comic book show) I cannot go down there man! It's like being in a crack house with no money!
MARK: You know if you
put a stormtrooper costume on...
MARK: They'd be saying
"Man you really look like Samuel L. Jackson."
MARK: So you're serious
about this. That's good. What do you think was the best comic book
movie ever made?
MARK: Or do you think
we've not seen it yet?
MARK: Fantastic! MARK: I know, it's such a shame, but a great film. Last comic he read? SAM: Last thing I read was the newest 100 BULLETS.
MARK: You know I have
to ask, since you know Avi, and you're such a great comic fan, have you had
any aspirations to maybe write some comics and get involved in the comic book
industry?
MARK: No ideas for
characters? But Rosario Dawson is doing a comic... SAM: She's got a lot of time on her hands, I work a lot (we laugh) I work a bit more, how 'bout that?
MARK: So I can't talk
you into starting your own comic book series then?
MARK: I had to try.
So how does it feel now that you're part of the Star Wars universe?
Being a Star Wars fan, is that just like a dream come true? I mean
you're a Jedi now, and you're one of the most well-known Jedis out there...
MARK: How do you fathom
that?
MARK: Yeah.
MARK: It definitely
paid off in the end.
Find out more about Samuel L. Jackson HERE.
| |
This site is best viewed with Internet Explorer at a screen size of 1024x768 All content © 2006 BIGFANBOY.com
|