Samuel L. Jackson Shares Bruce Willis' Die Hard Advice, Realizes It After MCU's 9-Movie Nick Fury Deal

In a fascinating exchange between Hollywood legends, Samuel L. Jackson shared a piece of advice he received from Bruce Willis while filming the 1994 action blockbuster, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Willis imparted wisdom that has proven invaluable for Jackson's career. "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 recalled in an interview with Vanity Fair, celebrating Willis’ 70th birthday. Willis continued, drawing parallels to other iconic roles: "Arnold [Schwarzenegger]’s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]’s got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane." It wasn't until Jackson landed the role of Nick Fury that he realized the significance of Willis' advice. "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 stepped into the shoes of Nick Fury with a cameo in the post-credits scene of 2008's Iron Man. He fully embraced the role in 2010's Iron Man 2 and has since reprised it in an impressive lineup of projects, including 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His latest appearances as Nick Fury were in the 2023 film The Marvels and the series Secret Invasion, as well as a voice role in the Season 2 finale of the animated series Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

In a humorous reflection on his Marvel journey, Jackson shared his initial concerns about completing his nine-film contract. In an interview with GQ in September 2024, he recounted his conversation with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige: "I knew I had a nine-picture deal when Kevin [Feige] said, he was like, ‘We wanna offer you a nine-picture deal’ I was like, 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?'" Jackson was surprised by the rapid pace of the Marvel machine, joking, "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."