Thank you to Disney•Pixar for hosting me during the #Incredibles2Event, which included this interview with Samuel L. Jackson.
Interviewing Samuel L. Jackson for Incredibles 2 was a total bucket list moment. If you’re wondering if he’s the coolest guy in the room? Yes. He’s totally the coolest guy in the room. That would be true of pretty much any room you wanted to put him in.
Ten Questions With Samuel L. Jackson
Does he collect his own action figures? “When I did Jurassic Park, they made action figures for everybody but my character. After that, I kind of insisted.”
Did he think they should make a sequel to The Incredibles? “My feed is always full of, ‘When are they going to make The Incredibles Two?’ When are they going to make The Incredibles Two, like it was my decision? Now I feel a lot better knowing the pressure has been relieved, they’ve made it, people can be happy.”
©2018 Disney•Pixar
Did he think the sequel surpassed the original? “The first movie was so perfect, and so awesome, that you got to say to yourself, ‘Can we really do something that awesome and just a little bit more awesome the next time so it justifies us doing a sequel?’ And I think they accomplished it. I mean, the movie is kind of awesome.”
©2018 Disney•Pixar
Who is his favorite character in the film? “[Brad Bird] is Edna, he’s the best character in the movie. Edna is just the dope-est, she’s just wise, cool, dry, unaffected by the world. The world revolves around her.”
What’s his real-life superpower? “Earning money for my wife and daughter. Surviving thirty-eight years of marriage yeah, that’s the superpower.”
Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
Why does he get the best lines in every movie? “Well people like selling t-shirts, they know they’re giving me the t-shirt lines.”
Is there an origin story for his frequently saying “mother f***er” in his films? “I stuttered really badly when I was a kid, and one of the mechanisms to stop the b-b-b-b-b was mother f***er. I could say what I had to say. So that worked and it just kind of flows over into the rest of my life.”
(And if you want to actually hear that moment, here it is. Because it’s not every day you can be in the room with Samuel L. Jackson saying this….)
Should actors be able to share opinions on politics and social issues? “People are constantly trying to separate us from our ordinary lives. It’s like yeah, we’re actors, but we live like everybody else in the world and [are] affected by the same thing that’s affecting everybody else. So when people say, ‘We don’t need your opinion’, it’s ‘I’ve got to have one, because I pay bills, I pay taxes, I’ve got a right to my opinion.’ So I’m not asking you to believe what I believe, I’m just asking you to hear what I’ve got to say, and you can do what you want with it.”
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
What kind of TV does he watch? “I never miss [Judge] Judy, because that’s my friend… We like hanging out and have dinner together and stuff.”
What’s his favorite movie in his filmography? “[The] Long Kiss Goodnight. Yeah, a movie that’s a really underrated film that the studio didn’t quite know what to do with, because women weren’t badasses in that time. And they didn’t think women wanted to see it. They didn’t think men wanted to see women be badasses at that time, so they didn’t know how to market that movie.”
Check out all of the Incredibles 2 action
I’m sharing lots more about Incredibles 2 here on the blog. Download these fun Incredibles 2 printables before you head to the theater on June 15th!
In “Incredibles 2,” Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dash (voice of Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack—whose super powers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don’t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) by their side. That’s what makes this family so Incredible.
Written and directed by Brad Bird (“Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille”) and produced by John Walker (“The Incredibles,” “Tomorrowland”) and Nicole Grindle (“Sanjay’s Super Team” short, “Toy Story 3” associate producer), Disney•Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” busts into theaters on June 15, 2018.