Samuel L. Jackson Is ‘Still Trying to Figure Out’ Why He’s Never Been in a ‘Black Panther’ Movie
Samuel L. Jackson is waiting to visit Wakanda in the MCU.
The Marvel staple, who plays Nick Fury in the superhero franchise, told Entertainment Tonight that he would prefer to be in “every Marvel movie” instead of the role being “up and down.”
“I don’t know, it’s kind of up and down for me in an interesting sort of way,” Jackson said since playing Fury since “Iron Man” in 2008. “Feels like I’ve been playing him forever. If I had it my way, I would’ve been in every Marvel movie because, I mean, he is Nick Fury, he knows everything that’s going on. I’m still trying to figure out why I’ve never been to Wakanda.”
Jackson reprises the role for Disney+ series “Secret Invasion” but was not approached to appear in “Black Panther” nor the Oscar-nominated sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
“They didn’t ask me to go, but I’m still trying to get there,” Jackson said. “I need a ticket.”
Jackson recently addressed longtime collaborator Quentin Tarantino’s comments about the “Marvel-ization” of Hollywood driven by IP over star power. Jackson argued that audiences can’t “refute” the cultural iconography of MCU stars like late “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman.
“It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?” Jackson said on “The View” earlier this year. “That’s not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star.”
Jackson previously explained why he’d “rather be Nick Fury” than be “doing statue-chasing movies” in hopes of an Oscar.
“As jaded as I wanted to be about it, you know thinking, ‘Well, I should have won an Oscar for this or should have won for that and it didn’t happen,’ once I got over it many years ago, it wasn’t a big deal for me,” the “Pulp Fiction” actor told the Los Angeles Times. “I always have fun going to the Oscars. I always look forward to getting a gift basket for being a presenter. But otherwise, I was past it. I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know, ‘If you do this movie, you’ll win an Oscar.’ No, thanks. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.”
