Legend to legend, this is a pretty good tip. Samuel L. Jackson shared the valuable advice Bruce Willis imparted to him during the filming of the 1994 action blockbuster Die Hard With a Vengeance.
"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 revealed to Vanity Fair in a special piece celebrating Willis’ 70th birthday.
"He said, 'Arnold [Schwarzenegger]’s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]’s got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.' I’m like, 'Oh, okay.' And it didn’t occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role — and I had a nine-picture deal to be Nick Fury — that, 'Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now.' "
Jackson first appeared as Nick Fury in a post-credits scene cameo in 2008’s Iron Man. He fully embraced the iconic Marvel character in 2010’s Iron Man 2. Since his debut, Jackson has reprised the role in 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His latest portrayals of Nick Fury include the 2023 film The Marvels, the series Secret Invasion, and a voice role in the Season 2 finale of the animated series Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Last year, Jackson humorously pondered whether he would live long enough to complete his nine-film contract, but he didn't anticipate the rapid pace of the Marvel machine.
"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?'" he told GQ in September 2024.
"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."
