Happy Sad Confused - Samuel L. Jackson, Vol. II

Episode Date: January 16, 2019

Samuel L. Jackson, the coolest man in the universe returns to "Happy Sad Confused" to discuss "Glass", Nick Fury's future, Star Wars, & more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Please play responsibly. today on happy sad confused he might just be the coolest man on the planet samuel l jackson returns to talk glass and his remarkable career hey guys i'm josh harl it's welcome to another edition of happy sad confused so pleased to be with you guys today to talk to the one and only mr samuel l jackson he is of course the ultimate in cool, the man with all the swagger and the talent to back it up, and he is returning to the M-night Shamalaniverse, if we want to call it that, with the eagerly anticipated glass. I can't believe this movie exists.

This is, you know, for those that know me a little bit, or those that just know me, you know, casually on the podcast or whatever, you might not be surprised to know that I'm a huge Unbreakable fan. Any comic book movie fan loves Unbreakable. I've always been obsessed with this film. And to the point where

what year was, 2010? 2010, I actually pitched to New York Comic-Con and along with my friends at MTV, we put together a 10th anniversary retrospective of Unbreakable and Lord N. Night Shyamalan

to New York Comic-Con to talk about it. And thus, a friendship was born with Knight. I've known him for, I guess, eight years now, going on nine. And he's so talented, so, so sweet. I went to the premiere last night for Glass here in New York, seeing it for the second time. And the way he introduced the film, his parents were there. His just generosity of spirit was really contagious. He's a good guy, and I'm happy for all the success he's experienced in the last few years, especially after taking some knocks. You know, this is the nature of any career. You don't ever just have hit after hit after hit.

But for M. Knight Shyamalan, he started with such remarkable films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and signs. And then, you know, then he got some knocks. But since directing the low-budget horror film, The Visit, and then split, which knocked my brain out of my head when I found out it was an unbreakable sequel. And now, with Glass, poised to make a ton of money by all reports, he's back on top, and I'm happy for him. So Glass comes out this Friday as I tape this. It stars, of course, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis and Sarah Paulson. She's great in it. And my guest today on Happy Sack Confused, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson.

His second visit to the podcast. The last one was for Miss Peregrine, the Tim Burton film that he was in a few years back. That was a short visit. That was just like a 20-minute chat. this is a much longer conversation, much more of a career conversation. And man, he is awesome. I mean, I've talked to Sam many, many, many times over the years. That's the benefit of a career like Sam where, you know, he makes like two or three movies at minimum a year. So he's kind of always doing press, never had a chance to talk to him at this length. And I'll be

honest, like in the early going in the early years of talking to Sam Jackson, I think I, like many people was intimidated to a degree that it made me unable to function as a good interview or as a good conversationalist with him because Sam walks into a room and he is he knows he's Sam Jackson in the best way possible he's not an asshole about it he's just very self-possessed and confident and you know if you ask a stupid question he'll say what does that mean no like he'll just like batted away. So you have to kind of be on your A game with Sam Jackson, but I think I've been doing this long enough, and I've known Sam long enough, that I think I've keyed into the way to have a good conversation with him. And this is a fantastic chat. He's so open and honest and funny

and smart. And I was delighted the entire time, and I think you will be too. We cover a lot. You know, for those I don't know, I mean, digging a little bit into his past is fascinating. You know, most people started to see him probably in Pulp Fiction. That was like the big movie where Sam Jackson exploded onto the scene. But he'd been around for a bit. He'd done some Spike Lee films. He'd had some films of note. And early on, part of the history of Sam Jackson that he's been very open about was struggling with addiction in a real profound way.

and he talks at length about that in this conversation and, you know, again, in an open, honest, and funny way, if you can, about addiction. So a lot about that. And then, of course, we cover a ton of geeky stuff like his amazing role in the Marvel movies is Nick Fury. He's going to be in Captain Marvel. We talk about the Nick Fury we're going to see in that. We talk about his portrayal of Mace Window in the prequels and how he feels about the prequels. Oh, he's getting the business from fans. yeah this is a delight i know you guys are going to enjoy this one um i hope you do and i hope you

check out glass uh what it's in theaters this friday um he's finally the title character it's his show this time uh and it is the completion of the unbreakable trilogy i can't believe i'm saying that but it's true um remember to review rate and subscribe to happy said confused uh spread the good word uh and i hope you guys enjoy this chat as much as i did here he is the one and only Samuel Jackson. You know what you're doing. I have no idea. Let's see.

What's been the best press tour in Sam Jackson's illustrious career? What was the most memorable one in all the years? What jumps out? Which one? Yeah. I did a press target in Tokyo one. for a long kiss goodnight

with Gina Davis Rennie Harlan and in that press junket we had we had interpreters and whoever the young lady was that was my interpreter somebody asked me a question I answered it

and she started to say it in Japanese and like every other word she was saying and the Samia son aniga a tibon anna na na niga and Gina was like whoa whoa

Whoa, stop, stop. And the girl was like, what? She's like, you can't say that. And she was like, what? She's like, no, no, no. Not the niga, but the niga. Like an and, the of, a smaller word. But she knew what it was.

And she was like, well, I'm not saying that. Right. I'm saying this. But that's like, I'd never forget that. And it was like, it was a moment, I'm sure. A moment for me. No, no, not the niga. I bought the niga.

I hope nothing as traumatic and interesting as happened today. It wasn't traumatic. It was, like I said, it was kind of funny to me. I was going on. Okay. Amazing, amazing. Well, congratulations or no way that this film actually exists in the universe. I don't know what we're going to talk about in subsequent years

because this is one of those movies that I would ask you in Knight every time I would see you guys. When is the damn sequel happening? Well, I asked him that too. So, I mean, I didn't have the answer. I know he said it was part of a trilogy once we did. did it, and it just never got done. Is there, okay, I want to come back around to that.

Here's my first question, semi-serious question. Is there a pride you take in the times when you have, I mean, you are the title character. You are Mr. Glass. I mean, you know, as a film geek, as a fan, as someone that struggled early on to kind of get where you are, do you take a pride, do you take a moment to take pride in a moment like that of being the title guy? Not really. Well, and having a film named after you or being number one on the call sheet?

Well, I guess it goes hand in hand usually. Not necessarily. Okay. I mean, the movie can be named something else. It doesn't have to be your character name. That's true. You know, it's not like Django. Well, because it strikes me, like, when I was looking back at the early stuff,

a lot of your early roles, you don't even have a character name. Exactly. Black Guy. You were literally credited as Black Guy in which one was it? Sea of Love. See of Love, yes. Not a bad movie, but not the best credit to have. Well, I was Clipboard Guy before I was Black Guy.

You were also a taxi dispatch guy. Yes. You were holdup man and coming to America. Yeah. So we've come a long way, is what I'm saying. Yeah, but, you know, people remember that guy in coming to America. You know, people are asking me now. Even now, people are going, so you got to be in coming to America, too.

And I'm like, why? Maybe dude is successful now. He might not be robbing McDonald's anymore. Maybe he got clean and, you know. Well, there's a story there too, though. Yeah, he's on Wall Street or something now. You never know. It's worth a cameo.

Yeah, right. But Craig's a friend of mine, so maybe it don't happen. That's right. Of course, Black Snake Moan. That's amazing. So were you, I guess that's a bigger shift maybe early on, is when you go from those roles that don't even have a character name to getting your own character name.

Well, you know, it's one of those things, I mean, even when you're doing movies where you have your own character name, at a certain point in your life or your career, you were still going to auditions and it's still depended on somebody saying yeah, I like that guy, that guy right there. Right. You know, or whatever.

You know, it's like when I did Goodfellas. You know, I auditioned for that part. You know, I got the part of Stacks, but, you know, I worked X number days, but Marty kept me around. You know, he liked having me around so he would call me in and I would go in and hang out, you know. But you take the job that falls out for you and you go in and you make the best of it.

You know, you do what you can. And then, you know, you, I finally reached that point where people sent scripts to me. I could read them. I can make a choice. Do I want to do this or do I not want to do that or do I want to do that one? So that becomes a greater burden in an interesting sort of way. Totally. Because I've had that discussion with many actors where it's like a lot of people think early on 90% of actors, 99% of actors have no choice.

You take what you can get. Exactly. And then probably the biggest shift for anybody that achieves success is the ability to say no. 5% of people who actually get to choose your own job. Do you remember when you could start to say no? And was that something, like, was that odd for you to be able to say that? Was it counterintuitive? Like, wait, I actually have to turn a job down.

I sort of remember it, but I didn't have to turn it down. I just did. Or when I thought about it, the phenomenon that struck me most was how quickly you become jaded by what happens. because I made no money. When I was here in New York, you know, I was making no money, basically. And then, you know, you get jobs at a scale plus 10. And then I got a job that paid me, I think maybe 60 grand for like eight weeks of work. Right.

I was like, oh, my God, it's amazing. I made 60 grand in my life in a year, let alone, you know, in 10 weeks. But, you know, along with that came like, okay, and we're going to give you a three-pitcher deal to do so-and-so, and so-and-so, and the next one's going to be so-and-so, and the next one's going to pay you so-and-so. And when you figure it out, and you're there doing that, when that, by the time that third picture comes around, you're like, I'm not going to work 10 weeks for that amount of money. And it's amazing how quickly you get jaded and say, I'm getting screwed here. Where are the points of the back end?

I'm getting screwed. It was like, you know what? Last year, dude, you hadn't made 60 grand total in the last 10 years of your life. Now all of a sudden, you're turning down 150 grand for eight weeks because you think you're getting underpaid. Shut up. Are you going to remind yourself to kick in? Did people in your life that have to remind you about that stuff, or are you pretty good at kind of? I was good at it. I mean, I was, I was fine about it. But, um, Amazingly, too, at that very same time, there are other people who are offering you more money because they do see your potential. And these other people are sort of kind of taking advantage of you because they've seen your potential too, but they know people want to see you.

And you have the right people around you. They can break that other deal and get you another deal and you start to see what your value is and how that works in the business in a specific kind of way. In the years before you started the Pulp Fiction and started to get the leads in some films, was there absolute certitude that it was going to happen? It was just a matter of when? In my mind or in the reality of the world? No, in your mind. Up to a point, yes, because, I mean, I was around.

I was around when Morgan got plucked out of the public theater to go and he did Street Smart and he took off. I was doing soldiers play with Denzel when he started doing St. Elsewhere and then did carbon copy and blah, blah, she took off. I was around fish. He took off and, you know, doing whatever, you know, the stuff he did. I was around Wesley. I was around, I was around Alfried. So, yes, I was in the right place. Yeah.

It just wasn't my time. And I couldn't figure out what my time was. Like everybody else, you know, you kind of wait for your time, and then you get anxious for your time. And then you start figuring, shit. It is my time ever coming. And by the time I forgot about, you know, movie stardom and all that other stuff and got sober, it's kind of when it happened. Do you connect the two, or do you think it happens as? Because you've talked about how even when you were abusing stuff, you were still a responsible actor.

I was working, yeah. I connect success to sobriety. I think so, yeah, in a very real kind of way. Gator, interestingly enough, you know, doing Jungle Fever, that was the first character I had ever done without a substance in my body. Right. And all of a sudden, you know, I'm being recognized as, oh my God,

this guy can act. And I thought I could act before. But like my wife always said, well, yeah, you can act, but there's no substance to that. Because you're watching people's reaction to what you do. You're smart enough to have the right facial expression and the right

vocal inflection, but there's no soul in that. Right. And I guess when I did Gator, I was I was essentially trying to kill off that person that I had been, you know, before I got that part. I mean, I was so much him in reality that when I showed up to go to work, the guys who were the guards on set wouldn't let me near craft service because they thought I was just somebody off the street in Harlem. Were you worried that that role was going to lead back down a dark path? Because that's not necessarily probably out of the guidebook. Everybody in rehab was.

I wasn't. It never occurred to me to. that was going to be the deal. Are you going to be having crack pipes and lighters on and all your triggers are going to kick in? It's like, no, I hate you guys. I don't want to come back here. I don't want to come, you know, all those people I met in rehab that were in rehab for the third, fourth, and fifth time. I was like, how do you come back and hang out with these motherfuckers?

I hate these people. I never want to see them again in my life. That's the greatest incentive to see what you're around and how do I get out of this? No, these people were like, you know, half of them were there trying to figure out getting clean enough. to go back and do their jobs and you know I remember seeing you know women there whose husbands were there with their kids

and their wives were saying you told me you wanted to see me dad on the road and guys like you've been in rehab six fucking times I hate you yeah and the wife's like yes I'm just here because the kids here I'm divorcing your ass I don't even fuck you

I'm out you know so I'm looking at rehab like this ain't someplace you want to keep coming back and forward to yeah so I don't do everything I can to stay out of here. And I was fortunate when I got out that I got clean in Harlem. I was up there, you know, talking to people.

Yeah, I smoked, I smoke cocaine, but shit, I was around, like, hardcore junkies and, like, the kind of crackheads that I was around. I was taking care of myself when I was a crackhead. I had a job. I paid for my cocaine. I could go to the ATM and get money.

Because I put money in the bank. I paid my rent. I wouldn't sell them the TVs or the radios in the house and none of that shit, but, you know, you're sitting up there talking to people or listening the stories about people that stole their kids' fucking Christmas presents and sold them and told their kids, well, you've been bad so Santa didn't come to see you. You know, or, you know, the girl that's in there going, well, the guy, I wanted a rock, but the guy said, well, you can't have a rock, and you get to blow the dog.

It was like, and they did it. You know what I'm like, oh, fuck. That's the real dark stuff. My life is not as bad as I thought it was, but I know how far down this rabbit hole is possible to go, and I'm not going down. that. So I was fortunate. What about, I mean, in the intermittent years, I'm sure you've sadly probably

worked opposite people that you could see are struggling like with that kind of stuff. Does it ever feel like, do you feel like you have to say something to them? Does that, I mean, it's their life. It's their... No, I don't. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, just, it must be sobering for lack of a better work. I mean, you can look at me, my story's not a secret, so you can look at me and know,

you know, that I, I went in that tunnel, I came out the other end. Right. And I'm okay, you know, so that's all I can do is be an example. I mean, there are people that I saw in the rooms that

became very successful and died on the other end because I guess you reach a point, there's that point that they used to talk about all the time where you think you're well, and okay, now I can have, I can have a beer, you know, but I never had

one beer my whole life, you know, Or, you know, or I can snore the line. Yeah. No. No. You know, and I mean, I don't. People that were very successful, very respected actors who are dead today that I used to sit in the rooms with. Wow.

And watch. Does that stuff manifest in different ways for you now, addiction? I know you're a golfer. Is that like, is that a benign way it manifests? Not really. Not really? It's a constructive and fun way to. spend, you know, the four

hours I used to spend hanging around in a room with some guys smoking cocaine and, you know, sweating. Right. I mean, my going to work as much as I do could be considered, you know, the same thing. I just enjoy it. It occupies my time.

I mean, even though I know, you know, there were actors that actors that go to work, acting is, it's a nefarious kind of thing. You know, when you're doing theater and you're in rehearsal, you're You're in rehearsal all day long, and you're doing it. That's a real job, that's it. But when you're on a movie set, you go and you work for like 10 minutes

and they go, you know, sit in your trailer for another hour and a half and wait on and come back and put some lights up, shit, you could do, you know, a half pound of cocaine in that time. So I see how, you know, people get caught up in their trailers, doing whatever they're doing or, you know, it's chicks running in and out of the trailer, you're doing that shit. So I could see how nefarious the movie industry could be. Fortunately, I was grown by the time I got there and by the time success hit

I had some sense of what I could do, couldn't do, wanted to do, didn't want to do and what the dangers of believe in all the shit that people say to you about you can lead to. Okay, I want to jump to this movie just before we go on 10 different tangents, which we still will.

But like I was alluding to you before, I kind of never thought this movie was actually going to happen. did you in your heart of hearts actually think he'd get around to this at some point that I stopped thinking about it really yeah I mean it's it's it's not in my presence and like I said if I didn't see night I didn't think about it yeah way back when when he described to you if at all what was to come did it resemble at all what this movie is but he didn't he didn't really go no all he said was there's more it's going to happen yeah and in my mind it was like okay we'll finish this movie in two years we'll do the other one and

that means I'm either going to break out of that mental institution and find David Dunn and some other shit is going to jump off and blah, blah, blah, and then two years later we'll do something else and that'll be a culmination of it. When you worked with Knight, he was coming off of Sixth Sense. So he was on top of the world, and he's been through kind of the ring in different ways since then. Well, now, yes.

Right? Well, he was so successful with that film. They let him shoot Unbreakable in sequence. Oh, really? Yeah. I worked 13 days on that movie. but I was in Philadelphia for two and a half months. And I'm sure he had final cut and had...

All that. I mean, we didn't shoot out any location. We just kept coming back and forth. Amazing. It was crazy. That's not happen. Yeah. What was your impression of him?

I mean, do you have a good gauge on young filmmakers, whether they've got the goods or not? Then? Yeah. Well, that success, I don't know how he was on success. I know when we got the Unbreakable. he had, he essentially had a comic book in his hand. And he was, I mean, anal to the point that he knew how much time he wanted to spend on each shot.

So we were shooting the panels that he had in his comic book. And he knew how much time he wanted to spend on him and what he wanted to happen in him, you know, to the point where he would say, don't say the line that way, say it this way. Don't blink in this scene. Oh, wow. You know, just sit there, stare, don't blink, give him this look. you know, don't put the emphasis on that word, put it on this word. Oh, and how were you with that?

Not very good. I was going to say, that doesn't sound like... Not very good at all, but, you know, it was like, okay, fine. We'll get through it. So was it only in retrospect, and you saw the finished product, you were like, okay, the guy knows what he's doing? No, because in retrospect, we would go, we'd go to ADR and he would go, how did you want to say that line before? And I would say, this is what I wanted to do.

He said, all right, do it that way. And I go, oh, so you heard it, so you know I'm right. So at least it was... At least it was that, you know. And I guess through the years of, you know, the rest of those films and get beat down a little bit and knock around here. A little bit, you know, you get enough ego bruises. You show up for other films and you start doing smaller films

and you like them, you figure out a new way to work. as you mature. Yeah. So by the time we get to this, he has matured in a way that allows him to be collaborative with us. Right. You know,

as the people on the inside of the story that, okay, you put the flesh and everything else on this character. How do you feel about what's happened since then? Right. What's going on here? What's going on there? So it was easier to give of myself

as opposed to be used as a pond, which can happen more often than we like in this business, probably. So you and Bruce back together yet again. We always love to see you and Mr. Willis together. Yet there's one project we haven't seen happen. Wasn't there talk that there was going to be a re-teaming of you guys from Diehard? I keep hearing that. You know, I've heard it from a lot of different people, the most reliable, so it's being Radio Man.

For those that don't know, Radio Man is an institution who's on every set in New York. Sammy, Sammy. Die Hard 3. Young Bruce, you gotta do Zeus again. But, you know, hadn't happened yet. No script, no calls, nothing real. Nothing real. Okay, okay.

Back to first instincts on directors. I'm curious, because I noticed, I think the only time you worked with PTA was on his first feature, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sydney, aka Hard 8, whatever we want to call it. Well, he tried to put me in the Dirk Diggler movie. Oh, Boogie Nights? Yeah, I didn't have time. Something happened.

Okay. Yeah, he did try to put me in there. but he still owes me a job. He's on the list? He owes me a job, man. Come on. He did his first movie. I made you what you are.

No, I didn't make him what he was. He did his first movie, and I helped him fight with the producers about his final cut because they were trying to lock him out of the editing room out of the craziness, so, you know. That was a mess. So you kind of alluded to this before.

I guess in terms of direction on set, you're not the guy that wants a line reading, I'm going to guess, from a director. No. You hired me for a reason. Let me do what I do. Right. Do you say that to them if they...

Sometimes. If it's necessary. Or sometimes I just give them a look. Or I go, you want me to say it like that? And then they'll realize, oh, I'm not giving you a line reading. Yes, you are. Say it again. Do it again?

Let me hear it. No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I feel like you'd get along well with Finchers kind of no bullshit attitude. Really? I don't know. Am I wrong from what you've heard about Fincher? I don't know.

I don't know if that's true or not. Because, you know, I'm like a, I'm like a three-take dude. Oh, you, okay. Four is a lot. Never mind. Okay. Never mind. Take it back.

Take it back. Fair enough. Fair enough. So, okay, so PTA is on the way. It's not going to get better. Yeah, I don't, yeah, I guess his, I don't know what his technique is. I don't know why he's trying to get, do that. Beat it out of the actor or something.

When do you know, there must be a sinking feeling when you know a director is full of shit. on a set. You've bought into their BS maybe to get you on set, and then at a certain point, day one or two, you maybe realize they don't have the goods to back it up. Yeah. What do you do? How do you survive? Like, do you, are you just taking care of your side of the street? You play defense? Yeah. You know, you kind of go, I'm going to do this. You know, this is what I'm going to do. Yeah. I have a plan. Or you ask them, you know, have you seen the movie?

have you seen this scene? So you know that this is connected to that. So if I do this thing that you want me to do, it's not going to make sense when we get to that place. So just let me follow my plan. I got a plan. It's funny because it must be an odd circumstance, especially in your career now,

where like 90% of the directors you work with, you've been on a film set way more than they have. You have a lot more experience than them. So you know of what you speak. And sometimes they're friends. Well, sometimes, I mean, there are still good directors that know what they want to do and they have a plan and they don't go back on it when you show up and they start trying to get tricky or cute and do stuff. I mean, I mean, I got a lot of little pet peeves about different things and sometimes it comes down to not just me, but the crew. You know, you've got to protect them too

because they've got to be able to do their jobs They can't be beat up They can't be tired You know, if you're in like a 16-hour day And then the next day to do To try and, you know, next thing you know You're like going around the fucking clock Before the week is over

You got to like stop and say to the producers Are y'all going to say something? Right Or do we say something Or you reach a point where they want to do a shot And you go, this is not going to be in a movie You know We don't need to waste that time doing this

you can see the crew like the one because they know too. You got it. You know, we've done the master, we've done the two shot. You don't need it over. Over is just, you don't need it. Well, I just want to see it when I go in the editing room.

No, we don't want to see it. We don't want to do it. It's going to take, you know, we got 18 more shots to do today. Can we not do that? Right. Please. Always add the please at least.

Yeah. Do you have a good sense at this point of how a film is going to turn out? on a set? Is that getting easier? It's still hard? Amazingly, no. You know, I mean, that... When's the last time you walked into a theater, saw the finished product of one of your films, and it was just so counter to what you were expecting that you just shook your head?

You mean good or bad? Could go either way. Take it either way you want. Well... That means a good answer is coming. No, not necessarily. it just means that there are times when you're doing specific kinds of films

that if the right humans are there doing what the human thing is it's kind of awesome and the humans are doing it and it's great but the humans aren't the star of the movie really it's the other stuff

just going to happen so you know that okay we took care of our part hopefully they'll take care of theirs and you walk in there and you go whoa shit they actually took care of their part of it. They actually held up their end of the bargain.

And the movie becomes, the movie is a lot more successful than you expected to be. So you were surprised by Kong Skull Island, is my translation. Sort of kind of yeah. Do kids recognize you more as Nick Fury or Mace Wind do? Nick Fury. You have to be a certain age to be of Mace Wind.

But it comes back around. I mean, Phantom Massel. But they don't, you know, I don't, you know, I don't think, unless you're like a specific kind of Star Wars fan, you're not going back. Right. You only, you started Star Wars at a certain point, and that's where you want to see it. They're not even, you know, Harrison Ford people, let alone the episode one, two, and three people. Are you defensive when people give the prequel shit?

Sure. What do you say? I just says, one is a kiddie movie. It's every little boy's fantasy that ever wanted to be a Jedi and flying a jet planes movie. and they like Jar J.J.R. Banks. Only adults hate him. That's true. It's true. We've joked, you've joked about, or maybe not even joked, about Mesa Windu running around the galaxy with one hand, one arm. He's still out there.

How many one-handed characters have been cloned and fixed at one hand? Are they in the Star Wars galaxy? So major ones. A lot, yeah. All of them. No one has two hands. That's so cosh. Right. But I feel like now with all these spinoffs, Disney Plus, et cetera, there's actually more realistic opportunity than ever.

I feel like the Obi-1 movie, the inevitable Obi-1 movie, Mace Windew can swoop in for a little help. Well, they should be. I mean, they should be contemporaries of sorts. This is what I'm saying. Yeah. I don't disagree with that. At all. As long as we're on the same page. Yeah, yeah.

Mr. Lucas is still a friend. He was at your recent birthday party. Yeah. Do you think he regrets giving up the reins to Star Wars? No, I think he's happy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's enjoying being a dad and playing with this kid and watching the world do what the world's doing and building his museum.

He's pretty cool with that. Yeah. It's not like he can't make a movie if he doesn't feel like it. Right. I keep wanting these like secret, private, weird, small movies he keeps talking about. Are we ever going to see them?

Yeah, exactly. As they ever going to happen. Yeah. You haven't shot any of them in secret that we should know. No, I have. Okay, just checking. I don't know. You never know. We're going to see you in a bunch of Marvel coming up, thankfully. After a bit of a break from Nick Fury, you're making up for lost

time. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Old Nick Fury and New Nick Fury, yeah. Same Fury. Nineties Nick Fury and Captain Marvel. Is this the most Nick Fury we'll see in a Marvel film thus far? Probably. For a long time? Yes, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Have you read all the completed scripts of like

Captain Marvel, of Spider-Man movie, of Avengers Endgame? Did you read any of those entire scripts? Not Avengers End Game, no. Okay. I read, I generally read the scripts I'm in. Well, come on. I don't just go to my part. I was going to say in glass, were you worried to do thump? Because every actor looks for their part first, I would think.

Were you worried going halfway through the script and still not seeing a line out? I don't actually do that anymore. You don't? Okay. I used to, you know, or I'll do it when somebody sends me a script and they say, we want you to do a cameo here. I'll go look for what that cameo is.

And depending upon what that cameo is, it may entice me to go back and read what happened before and what happens after. But most times, no, I read the whole script all the time. I like scripts. Doesn't take that long to read them. No, I'm with you. A lot of people, now, if you had some actors,

take some actors a very long time to read a script. I don't know what that is. It should take, I don't know, roughly two hours. Yes. Or they tell you, well, you know, I'm shooting a movie right now, and I'm like, motherfucker, I shoot movies. I know how much time you have in your trailer doing nothing. You have time to read a script.

And unless you're a method actor who's stupid, dyslexic, or, you know... I got you can't fucking read. You got no excuse for not reading the script while you're hanging around. How's Nick in the 90s? How's the Nick Fury we meet in the 90s and Captain Marvel? You know, bureaucrat, pencil pusher, trying to figure out, you know, do I really want to be in this? What's going on?

You know, he's just there. He's trying to figure out, you know, his job basically is supposedly figuring out where the next threat's coming from, you know, threat control. Do you feel like you've been best utilized in this part? You're in like a thousand of their movies, but we've never had the Nick Fury movie.

We've never had the series. Do you feel like there's still more to be done with that character that hasn't been? Of course. Yeah, there's lots of stuff you can do with him, But has he been used wisely? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Except for, you know, things like Civil War. It's like if all the Avengers are fucking fighting each other, where's their guardian? Right. Where's that dude that comes in and goes, all right, everybody go to your room. I'll be in there to talk to you in a minute. You know, it's kind of like, okay, either he's the guy that brought him together and he's the glue or he's not. Right.

You know, so I felt a little, I felt a way about that. We know you love popcorn movies. Like it is, I mean, you love movies as entertainment first and foremost. Yes. What's, is there a franchise outside of the 17 that you're a part of that you enjoy as a fan? A franchise outside is. What do you get excited for? I liked Wonder Woman.

I had a good time watching Wonder Woman. Okay. You a Trekkie? Star Trek do it for you? No, I don't know. I wasn't a Trekkie when it was on TV. Yeah. You either are or you aren't. That's okay. Yeah, it just wasn't one of the, no.

I was more of a lost in space kind of guy when I was a kid. That's pretty great. Yeah. The, I haven't seen the new Netflix reboot. I saw the, well, the 90s one was pretty horrible, to be honest. But I don't know, you know, and I haven't seen Aquaman yet. I used to like Aquaman comic books when I was a kid. Right.

I liked them a lot. So I'm probably going to see it. I heard you say somewhere that comic books were kind of the treat for you as a kid. Like that was like... Well, they were, but for every five comic books I read, I had to read a classic in my house, which is not a bad deal. No. It's fine.

I mean, it made me literary and literate and all that other shit. Yeah. And I still like reading books. You know, I mean, I like reading books that just have words so I can put the pictures in my mind. Right. And I still like reading comic books so I can look at the pictures that are there too. So I'm about that, too. So still.

Can you divulge who you're voting for in the Oscars? What are your favorites this year? I don't know. Do I have any? Really? I mean, I do think that when they were talking about having, you know, a popular movie Oscar, they should have. Really? That should be an award for the movie that made the most money.

That's what we're doing. That should be the criteria. We're celebrating fucking movies of this year. Well, to be fair. The movie that made the most money this year is. of course the guy that has an Oscar for the movie that made the most money Devil's Advocate of course the guy that has made more money

in his career in movies 13 billion dollar man is going to say that No that's not necessarily the case I'm just saying that's That's still a place for You know your artistic choice That you know didn't break box office records Right but if

If we're celebrating movies Then celebrate the fucking movie that did What you make movies for every year Made some money the one that made the most money is this one and here's your most money Oscar fuck that it's fine

it should be there that's what we're doing aren't we we're celebrating movie yeah okay I feel like I got a sneak peek at your upcoming when you host the Oscars eventually that's going to be your monologue oh well no could be and I'll just give that award too you'll make it yourself do whatever

surprise surprise we're giving an Oscar for that shit anyway there should there should be that there should be stunts Oh yeah, well, they have the stuntman awards Yeah, but come on What, best stunt of the year? Well, I don't know, I mean, Mission Impossible alone Who's doing his own stunts hanging off a mountain? That team, whoever makes all that stuff happen

Okay, they deserve something The team that makes that happen, let me think Okay I don't know Yeah, I mean, I like stunts I'm down with that All the way down with that Are you walking by in the background

In the new Tarantino movie at all? Are we seeing it? Is there a voiceover? Not to my knowledge. What? I have no idea. I asked somebody the other dip there when he's black people in that movie. It said, and they were thinking about it. Like, I don't think so.

Didn't read the script, didn't talk to a cute. I was not over. You know, he's still editing. He might call me in the voiceover something, you know. Never know. He's got at least one or two more films in him, so you'll... I hope so. I hope so, too.

Yeah. Do you believe that when he says he's going to retire at 10? I have no idea. I mean, he might have meant it when he said it. And then, you know, next day you'll wake up and go. Now, that's not what I mean. especially in this climate. I mean, you can say shit now and change your mind.

Like you said, I never said that. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. Would you ever retire? Are you going to be... For what? I'm with you. It's a great job.

Why would I stop doing it? I'm doing it until they stop calling me. That's why I'm bummed because, you know, when I think of your work, I think of an actor like Gene Hackman. There's not a false note in a Sam Jackson program. Yeah, but he chilled. Yeah, but...

I don't want to chill. I don't want to chill. I don't want to chill. I don't want to chill. No, I don't want to chill. I agree. No, my point is, I want more Gene Hackman. I don't want, I don't want Welcome to Mooseport to be his swan song to filmmaking. Oh, God. Was that his last movie? Yes. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Keep going, Sam.

All right. Thank you. I'm going to try. I'm totally going to try. Believe me. Congratulations on the new film, man. It's always a pleasure to catch up with you, and I'll see you on your next four movies that come out in the next two months, I think. Come on. Captain Marvel, I'll be back out. I'm back out in the world in three weeks doing that, and then I'll go off and do a popcorn movie, Hit Man's Wife's Bodyguard and then come back and start doing Spider-Man Press and then do some shaft press

in the popcorn movie. Never enough. Yeah, man. Thank you. Thanks, man, as always. Pleasure. Pleasure. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

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