In the world of Hollywood, sage advice can often lead to legendary roles. Samuel L. Jackson shared a valuable piece of wisdom he received from Bruce Willis while filming the 1994 action blockbuster "Die Hard With a Vengeance." Willis imparted a lesson on the importance of having an iconic character to fall back on, even when other projects might not succeed.

"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 to Vanity Fair during a special feature celebrating Willis’ 70th birthday. Willis drew parallels to other action stars, saying, "'Arnold [Schwarzenegger]’s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]’s got Rocky and 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.'"

Jackson's journey as Nick Fury began 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 the character in 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His latest appearances as Nick Fury 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."

Reflecting on his nine-picture deal with Marvel, Jackson humorously expressed concerns about completing it before his time runs out. In a September 2024 interview with GQ, he recalled, "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 was surprised at 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."