Bruce Willis' Advice to Samuel L. Jackson During Die Hard Leads to MCU's Nick Fury Role

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." In an interview with Vanity Fair celebrating Willis' 70th birthday, Jackson recounted Willis' insight: "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.'" Willis used examples like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator and Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Rambo, and mentioned his own iconic character, John McClane. Jackson realized the wisdom of this advice when he landed the role of Nick Fury, securing a nine-picture deal with Marvel.

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 portrayals 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 on his Marvel contract, Jackson told GQ in September 2024, "I knew I had a nine-picture deal when Kevin [Feige] said, 'We wanna offer you a nine-picture deal.' I was like, 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?'" He was surprised by the rapid pace of Marvel's production, noting, "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."