"Got this character": Samuel L. Jackson opens up about Bruce Willis' advice for MCU

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair published on March 19, 2025, veteran actor Samuel L. Jackson had a candid about a conversation he had with Bruce Willis, his contemporary, years ago.

The actor shed light on what he deems to be an important insight that Bruce Willis had passed on to Jackson, around 30 years back. In the interview, the Pulp Fiction actor revealed that Willis had advised him to discover an iconic character for himself that he can always reappear as.

However, the rest is history, as Samuel L. Jackson became iconic for his impeccable portrayal of Nick Fury in a number of MCU movies. In the interview, Jackson says:

"Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now."

Let us find out more about what Bruce Willis had to say to Samuel L. Jackson.

"You can always go back to this character everybody loves": Bruce Willis to Samuel L. Jackson for MCU

In the said interview with Vanity Fair, Samuel L. Jackson shared tidbits/snippets from a conversation he had with Bruce Willis in 1994. In 1994, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis had been working together on the film Die Hard With a Vengeance, which was released the following year.

It was during this time that they engaged in the conversation that Jackson refers to in the said interview with Vanity Fair. Sharing tidbits from this conversation that has stayed with him for over three decades now, he continues,

“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.”

The actor elaborated further on how Willis explained his point using the classic examples of other actors such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, each of whom has reappeared as the same protagonist of several franchises. He also mentioned his own iconic role reprisal in the Die Hard film franchise.

Jackson said that the realization about what Willis had said to him dawned upon him when he was cast as Nick Fury in the MCU film franchise:

“He said, ‘Arnold’s got Terminator. Sylvester’s got Rocky, Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.’ 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.”

As of March 2025, Samuel L. Jackson has starred in the role of Nick Fury in a total of 12 MCU films and 4 MCU series.

Nick Fury, in the Marvel Universe, is the founder of the Avengers. His actual name is Nicholas Joseph Fury. He is a prolific secret agent who started out as an army personnel serving the United States of America, rose up the ranks, and eventually became a CIA agent during the Cold War.

His earliest appearance as Nick Fury began with starring in Iron Man in 2008. From then on, he starred in the following Marvel films:

Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
The Marvels (2023)

The various Marvel series where the actor has reprised his role Nick Fury are as follows:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2014)
What If...? (2021-2024) [Voice-acting]
Secret Invasion (2023)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2025) [Voice-acting]

More about Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis' acting collaborations

Other than Die Hard with a Vengeance, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis have collaborated in films such as Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Unbreakable (2000), and Glass (2019).

Apart from MCU movies, some more well-known films where he shows off his acting chops include Star Wars prequels (1999- 2005), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Django: Unchained (2012), XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), amongst The Unholy Trinity (2024), amongst many others.

Former actor Bruce Willis has had an illustrious career too, and has starred in multiple critically acclaimed films including the Die Hard series (1988-2013), 12 Monkeys (1995), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Tears of the Sun (2003), Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017), Detective Knight: Rogue (2022), etc.

However, due to medical reasons, Bruce Willis has now retired from acting. In the year 2022, he was diagnosed with aphasia. In the following year 2023, Willis also diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.