Samuel L. Jackson Shares Bruce Willis' Die Hard Advice, Realizes Its Value with MCU's Nick Fury Deal

Legend to legend, Samuel L. Jackson shared a valuable piece of advice he received from Bruce Willis while filming the 1994 action hit, *Die Hard With a Vengeance*. Willis imparted wisdom about the importance of having an iconic character to return to, even when other projects might not succeed commercially. "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 in a special piece celebrating Willis’ 70th birthday with *Vanity Fair*.

Willis cited examples of other action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Terminator and Sylvester Stallone with Rocky and Rambo, and mentioned his own character, John McClane. It wasn't until Jackson landed the role of Nick Fury that he realized he had found his own iconic character. "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 explained.

Jackson first appeared as Nick Fury in a post-credits scene in 2008's *Iron Man*. He fully embraced the role in 2010's *Iron Man 2* and has since reprised it in 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His most recent appearances 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*.

In a humorous reflection, Jackson discussed his initial concerns about completing his nine-film contract. "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?'" he told *GQ* in September 2024. He was surprised by the rapid pace of Marvel's production, stating, "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."