Samuel L. Jackson is one of the most highly accomplished actors in all of Hollywood right now, whose roles in films such as Pulp Fiction, Snakes on A Plane and more helped make him a global phenomenon. Of course, he is more known now for his role as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, it seems Joss Whedon ended up breaking one of Samuel L. Jackson’s cardinal rules.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has undergone numerous changes and developments over the years, getting mixed responses from fans and critics alike. After all, fans still fondly remember the heydays of Marvel, especially when The Avengers came out in 2012.
Joss Whedon Broke One Of Samuel L. Jackson’s Rules In The Past
Joss Whedon is pretty infamous for being strict about his own rules, which was evident in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to PR Newswire, The Avengers was filmed at Albuquerque Studios, which is now owned by Netflix and extensive sets were constructed, including Tony Stark’s high-rise apartment and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Samuel L. Jackson, despite making it clear he didn’t want to run at all, was made to run across this expansive set spanning two sound stages anyway.
In the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, co-authors Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards recount an incident where Samuel L. Jackson arrived at the Albuquerque set, intent on filing a complaint against director Joss Whedon.
“When Whedon had consulted with Jackson before writing the screenplay, the then-sixty-two-year-old actor had made only one request about Nick Fury: he didn’t want to run. But now he pulled out his script and pointed to a stage direction where Fury ran onto the deck of the Helicarrier with a rocket launcher. ‘What’s this say here? It says I run!’ ‘Just that once,” Whedon assured him. ‘You only run once.'”
Despite Jackson’s prior request not to run as Nick Fury, the script indicated a running scene onto the Helicarrier deck with a rocket launcher. Whedon assured Jackson it was a one-time thing only, to which Jackson responded with a signature ‘motherf****r.’ Ultimately, Jackson ran with a rocket launcher in the final cut, making it clear he did what was instructed.
Joss Whedon Couldn’t Believe Marvel’s Mandate on Samuel L. Jackson
Marvel was adamant about preserving the integrity of its major characters, especially Nick Fury in The Avengers according to director Joss Whedon. There was zero tolerance for changing Nick Fury’s background, and Marvel drew a strict line in the sand to maintain the mystery surrounding the head of SHIELD’s identity and intentions. This was considered the studio’s strictest rule during the production of the film.
It was already mentioned above that Whedon ended up breaking a major role for Samuel L. Jackson. While speaking with Yahoo, Joss Whedon revealed several behind-the-scenes secrets from the set of The Avengers.
”Well, he is not going to be talking about his childhood, and you do want to keep a certain mystery. Also — and this is something that I was very pleased that Marvel actually mandated — they were very interested in keeping him, not just in the sort of a mystery of how the organization operates, but a real moral gray area where you really have to decide, “Is Nick Fury the most manipulative guy in the world? Is he a good guy? Is he completely Machiavellian or is it a bit of both?” And that was really fun to tweak. I felt that in the other movies, they had been cameos and he had been called upon to come in and be Sam Jackson and bluster a little bit. And I told Sam upfront that my big agenda was to see the weight on someone who is supposed to be in control of the most powerful beings on the planet. The weight on somebody who has to run the organization and the gravity of it. Not that we don’t have any fun with Nick, but he definitely — it’s, I feel like a much more textured performance and at times really moving.”
Joss Whedon noted that there was no way he could make any major change to Nick Fury’s background and he had to adhere to this one strict rule while filming the movie. In fact, Whedon made it clear he found the whole thing baffling.
