Samuel L. Jackson loves his job

Samuel L. Jackson is a movie star, and so is he loves her job. “Movie scenes are my yard. This is my happy place,” he said.

Sunday Morning contributor Kelefa Sanneh asked, “Is it easy for you to act?”

“Yes,” he laughed. “I feel like it. It’s fun for me.”

Has done more than 150 films, and is one of the most profitable stars in Hollywood. He has worked closely with Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino, and is a family presence in the Star Wars and Marvel franchises.

“I think movies should be entertaining,” Jackson said. “You know, popcorn movies, I love popcorn movies! Turn off your brain. You don’t have to figure out the plot, you don’t have to worry about who did it, you know? He he did it! Let’s have some fun now! “

Now, in a new limited series, “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray,” he plays a different kind of character: an old man with dementia who briefly recovers his memory.

To watch a trailer for “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray”, click on the video below:

The story echoed, “Would you have a few clear days to tell me I love you or to let them know how you really feel or to hear their story? Would you?”

Sanneh asked, “Would you?”

“Of course. I’d love to. My mom didn’t know who I was at least for the last ten or so years of her life. The last time I remember knowing who she really was, she was watching TV in the room. And for some reason, my face appeared on TV. I came out with a movie or something. And she said, “Sam?” And that was it. he said my name “.

Her mother, Elizabeth, died in 2012.

“What would you give him so that, you know, he would have an hour with me to say, you know, ‘I’m very proud of what you’ve done?’ you gave me and pushed me and you took me and you took me to this place. You know? Just, you know, thank her and love her. “

Samuel Leroy Jackson was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee by his mother, a factory worker. They spent Saturdays together in a segregated local movie theater: “They did these series, you know, like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and stuff. monster movie or whatever “.

He admired actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. But he didn’t want to to be they.

“I wanted to be Errol Flynn if I had to be anyone,” he laughed. “I wanted to be up there fighting with swords and smashing across the screen!”

Sanneh asked, “What do you think it would mean for a kid like you to grow up to see a black superhero like this on screen?”

“It was something I could never have imagined,” Jackson said. “But I’d be in there, jumping out of bed, out of the house, or in my backyard. So, he’d been a hero all my life!”

When he was offered the role of Nick Fury in Marvel movies, it was a big commitment: “And then I end up in the Marvel world. How crazy it is when someone tells you when they take you,” Look, we want to give you a I deal with nine images. And you say, “How long do I have to stay alive to make nine movies?” You know, I didn’t know they were going to make nine movies in two and a half years! “

Jackson says that while acting is easy, the Hollywood business can still be difficult. His 40-year-old wife, Tony LaTanya Richardson-nominated actor, is also his production partner.

Sanneh asked them, “Have you become one of the biggest movie stars on the planet; I hope you have some juice so you can do something if you want to do it?”

“People say they want to do business with you, but they want to do business with you in the same way they I want to be in business with you, “Jackson said.” So, it’s still a fight like that. I mean, I wish the “All-Black Network” had as much money as Netflix to throw at it. And until they do, you have to go with the hat in hand to these other people who have it. “

It took Jackson and Richardson more than a decade to complete their final project. “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray” premieres this week on Apple TV.

Sanneh asked, “What made you so stubborn about wanting to do this thing?”

Richardson responded, “Especially if you’re a boomer, we have to deal with a lot of dementia issues. It was a good story.”

Bestselling author Walter Mosley wrote the book and screenplay. He said to Sanneh, “Listen, if you’re black and you’re writing books, any book you write, no one has ever written it. A black detective? A black cowboy? A black singer?”

Mosley has published more than 50 books, including “Devil in a Blue Dress,” which became a film starring Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle.

As Ptolemy Gray, Jackson plays a 91-year-old man. Mosley said, “No one had really focused on a black person with dementia.”

Sanneh asked Jackson, “Did that make you think about aging?”

“I think about it all the time,” he replied. “I look at the screen, I say, ‘Oh, you don’t run like you used to run, man!'”

But no one, at any age, can offer lines like Samuel L. Jackson, as in this classic “Pulp Fiction” scene:

“There is this passage that I have memorized, Ezekiel 25:17. will shepherd the weak in the valley of darkness, for he is the guardian of his brother and the troubadour of the lost children, and I will attack you with great vengeance and furious wrath on those who try to poison and destroy my brothers. you know that my name is the Lord when I take vengeance on you. “

Sanneh asked, “Did you know that speech would be as iconic as it was?”

“Let me put it this way: when I made that speech at the audition, that’s when they knew how the film would end,” he said.

Many viewers believed that his character, assassin Jules Winnfield, was simply reciting the Old Testament. “You taught a generation of moviegoers to misread the Bible!” Sanneh laughed.

“Well, a lot of people for a long time thought it was a real Bible verse,” Jackson laughed. “Most are not.”

Jackson was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in “Pulp Fiction”, although he did not win. Surprisingly, this is still his not more Oscar nomination. This month will receive an honorary Oscarabout 40 years after his first film role.

Jackson said, “I’ve been around long enough, you know, someone decided, ‘Sure, yeah, he’s done enough. Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either. Let’s do it. to him now “.

“Does that mean anything to you?” asked Sanneh.

“You can’t ignore the recognition.”

But for a guy who went to the movies every Saturday, being on screen is his own reward: “In his day, when he went to see ‘Shaft’ and all that stuff, you know, it was heroes “.

“If you were talking to your younger version, it might be the most awesome thing for him, wouldn’t it? How, will you one day become a Shaft?”

“It’s true. Because I used to sit in the movie theater and ask myself, you know, Man, how do you put yourself in a movie like this? You know? And suddenly, you know, it happens! “

For more information:

• “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray” does not release Apple + TV on March 11th
• Followed by Samuel L. Jackson Twitter and Instagram
• waltermosley.com

Story produced by Mary Raffalli. Editor: Lauren Barnello.