Samuel L. Jackson: 20Q

Photo: Courtesy of pinguino via Flickr

The coolest motherfucking star on the planet speaks his mind about rappers who can't act, people who give him attitude and what it's like to have everyone watching you

Q1

PLAYBOY: Everybody has an opinion about the war. Now you're courting controversy with the film Home of the Brave, with 50 Cent and Jessica Biel, about American soldiers struggling to readjust after serving in Iraq.
JACKSON: Home of the Brave is interesting because it's not necessarily an antiwar film, even though it has antiwar sentiment in it. Some characters are rah-rah about going back to Iraq, but it's more about people not understanding why they feel alienated when they come home and how they're unable to get rid of guilt about things that happened there or not being able to do enough when they were there. It's going to get an interesting reaction, particularly from people with relatives who have come back from Iraq or went there and didn't come back.

Q2

PLAYBOY: You turned down Get Rich or Die Tryin' with 50 Cent because of your strong feelings against rappers getting big movie roles. Did things get dicey between you two while you were making Home of the Brave?
JACKSON: People tend to think we're beefin', but we're not. We had an interesting conversation about it, actually. He has my phone number. We talk. I have this thing about acting being a craft, something some of us spent time learning to do. When they ask me to validate the career of somebody who comes from another venue by co-starring in a film with him, the number one insult is to say this other person is the actual star of the film. They want you to prop that person up by co-starring with him. That means if I take a lesser role and let them put that person's name above mine, I'm condoning it. I can't do that, because other young actors are doing the same thing I did, pounding the pavement day after day, going to school to get a degree in drama or theater, going on audition after audition, trying to get a job. I would be doing a great disservice by saying someone who hadn't done all that is good enough to be on-screen with me.

Q3

PLAYBOY: But over the years you've worked in movies with many rappers.
JACKSON: I've done a couple of movies with LL Cool J, but he was on the series In the House for years, so he spent some time learning the craft. I like him, and he's smart. He'd come to my trailer and say, "Okay, we have to do this scene, and I need to figure out how to get from this place to this place. Can you help me?" I'd do it. I had the same thing with Dana--Queen Latifah--when she was in Sphere and with Busta Rhymes when he showed up in Shaft. It has nothing to do with my disliking 50 Cent. Asking me to prop up a person who comes from another venue is like somebody saying to the Lakers, "Sam Jackson wants to play with you guys tonight. We're going to give him a uniform, and we're going to start him." What the hell are the Lakers supposed to think?

Q4

PLAYBOY: Being so respected for your work in such movies as Jungle Fever, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, how much heat did you take for tackling Snakes on a Plane?
JACKSON: People criticized me for doing the film, like, "How can you do something so lowbrow?" Because it's entertainment, that's how. When we went to the movies as kids, we didn't go to re-create our day-to-day problems; we went to escape into Westerns, war pictures, horror movies, gangster pictures, romances, comedies, monster pictures. We went to scream, chase each other, laugh and have fun. That's why I did Snakes on a Plane.

Q5

PLAYBOY: Do you think you were criticized because we're not accustomed to seeing first-rate actors in purely fun stuff?
JACKSON: Bullshit. I see nothing wrong with taking time off from my "heavy dramatic schedule" and doing something that allows me not to have to think about what my motivation is except, There are snakes on the plane, and they're going to kill you if you don't kill them! Let's see if we can survive. Let's scream and holler and have fun.

Q6

PLAYBOY: Did you ever miss out on a killer movie role?
JACKSON: I read Hotel Rwanda and couldn't figure it out. I knew it was a passion project, and I knew about the state of people in Rwanda. I didn't know if people wanted to come to the movies and see it. Don Cheadle did a fantastic job, and I'm exceedingly glad he got the Academy Award nomination and it moved his career in another kind of way. It's interesting that when a black actor gets a particular part, all of a sudden people look at him and other black actors as though they're adversaries. Nobody ever said that to Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, George Clooney and those guys. There are enough jobs out there for all the black actors.

Q7

PLAYBOY: Some fans were let down by the three Star Wars flicks in which you played Jedi master Mace Windu. Did they turn out the way you'd hoped?
JACKSON: Sure. From the time I sat in the theater and saw the first Star Wars, I'd been trying to figure out how I could fulfill a fantasy of being in a room full of things that are eight feet tall, some with one eye, some green and some with lightsabers. How can I be flying a big fast rocket ship? I was an only child, so when George Lucas put me by myself in that big green room and I had to talk to and fight against things that weren't there, it was like being an only child in my room, having a great time fighting all those things I saw at the movies.

Q8

PLAYBOY: Not counting when you've said it on-screen, when did you last get great satisfaction from saying motherfucker?
JACKSON: Motherfucker. So just now. [laughs] It's always satisfying, you know? It's part of my lexicon every day. I golf a lot, and people know me for it all over the golf course. If I hit a bad shot, I'll go, "Motherfucker!" and golfers who didn't even know I was there go, "All right, Sam's over there." Or if it's a great shot--pow, right on the pin--I'll go, "Yeah, motherfucker!" and they'll actually know the difference.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Why is golf your game?
JACKSON: Having been an only child, I'm used to taking credit for things I do. Team sports are okay, but there's always somebody to blame. Golf is the one sport that has no outside influences. The ball is sitting still. It's your responsibility to move it forward to the place you want it to go. When you put the ball in the hole, it's all because of something you did, not because somebody gave you an assist or made a block for you. You get all the credit, but you also get all the blame. It's the greatest game of personal responsibility you can have.

Q10

PLAYBOY: Would you get a bigger kick from winning an Oscar or winning on the PGA Tour?
JACKSON: It would give me a much greater thrill and sense of satisfaction--and make a much more lasting impression on the world--to win on the PGA. The Oscar is not a real gauge of the best performance for that particular year. Ask 80 percent of the people who watched the Oscars who won last year and they can't tell you. You make a lasting impression and get a lot more benefits winning PGA Tour events than you do winning an Oscar.