Pulp Fiction star and frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator Samuel L. Jackson has challenged the recent words of the Oscar winning director and his belief that there are no more movie stars. Earlier this month, Tarantino referred to the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood” and declared that the likes of Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth are not movie stars. Instead, it’s Captain America and Thor who are the stars. Well, Jackson does not agree.
“It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, [expletive] in seats? What are we talking about? That’s not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star.”
Using the late, great Chadwick Boseman as an example while speaking with Variety, Jackson does not agree that there are no more movie stars, believing that it still takes a movie star to sell the character, whether they be a Marvel superhero or not.
“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters, but they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star,” Tarantino explained earlier this month. “I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, you know, but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
So, while Jackson does not side with Tarantino on this opinion, one of his Marvel co-stars does. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Captain America 4 star Anthony Mackie concurs with the filmmaker saying, “there are no movie stars anymore. Like, Anthony Mackie isn’t a movie star. The Falcon is a movie star. And that’s what’s weird.” He continued, “It used to be with Tom Cruise and Will Smith and Stallone and Schwarzenegger, when you went to the movies, you went to see the Stallone movie. Now you go to see… X-Men. So the evolution of the superhero has meant the death of the movie star.”
Samuel L. Jackson’s Marvel Tenure Continues in Secret Invasion
Jackson has been playing the role of Nick Fury since as far back as 2008. But his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not over yet. The beloved actor will reprise the role in the upcoming Secret Invasion series, which finds Nick Fury tackling a faction of shapeshifting aliens, the Skrulls, who have infiltrated all aspects of life on Earth.
Created by Kyle Bradstreet, Secret Invasion sees the likes of Ben Mendelsohn reprise the role of Talos, the leader of a Skrull sect and an ally of Fury alongside Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, and Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes. The series will also introduce Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke as Abigail Brand and The Crown star Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth, a special agent who is an old ally of Fury's.
Secret Invasion is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in early 2023 and will consist of six episodes as part of Phase Five of the MCU.