Samuel L. Jackson on Nick Fury deal: 'It's always a joy to lose an eye'

I sent an e-mail to Samuel L. Jackson congratulating him on his nine-movie deal with Marvel Studios and he shot back an answer right away: "Thanks for even caring. It's always a joy lose an eye, gain a patch and a really big facial scar in the name of character. Plus, I get to run the largest world-peace task force in the world, S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm glad that in the end we were able to reach across the aisle and put our differences aside and do what's best for the franchise and the fans ... & ME TOO!"

I talked to him by phone a couple of hours later (all of this was late last week, right before I left for WonderCon in San Francisco) and he said there was no false posturing in his dealings with Marvel; he had reached a point where he was quite sure he would never play the role of Nick Fury. "No one was more surprised than me that it turned around," he said. "It's great that it did."

-- Geoff Boucher

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Photo: Los Angeles Times. Image: Marvel Comics