Samuel L. Jackson isn’t fond of Quentin Tarantino’s comments and erasure of Marvel movie actors that stripped the likes of Chadwick Boseman and Chris Evans of their hard-earned stardom. The “Pulp Fiction” director and a longtime friend of Jackson recently argued that the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were the real stars instead of the celebrities that portray them.
Jackson, who took on the role of Avengers founder and spy Nick Fury in 2008, addressed those claims during his Wednesday, Nov. 30, appearance on “The View,” telling the viewers and hosts of the daytime television talk show, “It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, a–es in seats? What are we talking about?”
The Academy Award-nominated actor continued, “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’s response comes following Tarantino’s appearance on the “2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast” in which he stated, “Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is…you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters, but they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star.”
Still, this wasn’t the first time Jackson spoke out in defense of his Marvel role. Last June, the “Coach Carter” star told the Los Angeles Times that he’d rather play Fury than take on gigs with the sole purpose of getting an Academy award.
“I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor,” Jackson told the outlet. “My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know [whispers]: ‘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.”
Despite being in nearly 200 films and an illustrious career spanning over five decades, Jackson has only been nominated for an Oscar once — and lost. Earlier this year, he received his first award, an honorary one at that, for his lifetime body of work.
