August 2002 Sam Jackson : The Man

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Interviewed by Monikka Stallworth Sam Jackson : The Man Sam Jackson exudes an air of balanced humility and confidence. He doesn’t bother with the typical Hollywood fanfare – no entourage, no conceit. He’s an accessible man with charisma and charm. We met in Beverly Hills to talk about his latest film XXX. MS: Did being in such a high-action movie fulfill any childhood fantasies? SJ: From the first time I saw a Bond movie, I wanted to be James Bond. MS: In XXX, as Agent Gibbons, you’re more like James Bond’s boss - SJ: Well, yeah, but there’s something about Agent Gibbons that we don’t know yet or haven’t been told and you know he’s a very dangerous character in an interesting sort of way, very worldly, intelligent, he’s well-spoken, he’s well-dressed, but he’s lethal. MS: Why did you and Vin decide to work together? SJ: The first time Vin & I met, we were able to laugh together and talk about some serious topics and just kind of be normal together and natural. Sometimes you just meet certain people and you click in a certain kind of way and you know that when you find yourself in a dramatic situation with them its going to be a give and take. MS: The audience reacted quite well to XXX – they screamed the loudest whenever Vin took his shirt off – SJ: Well, tattoos tend to do that. (chuckling) Vin has this bubbling undercurrent of danger about him that’s always there and that hasn’t quite exploded yet. There’s a mysterious quality that creates this thing and audiences respond to that. MS: Any similarities between you and Vin? SJ: His drive, his intensity, his joy for coming to work and his preparation. MS: What are your feelings about working with new talent? SJ: I think it’s incumbent upon me to interact with the next generation of actors that are coming up. MS: What about alongside hip-hop artists? SJ: I’ve worked in movies that have rappers in them and I didn’t have a problem with that. I don’t cast the movies. But I do think that if somebody’s building a film around some rapper and they come to me with it, I have a right to say no. I don’t have to validate their careers by joining them in their acting escapades. There are kids that are going to Julliard and NYU and the Actor’s Studio that I’d be more than happy to validate or work with. Acting is a craft – not a whim. MS: Do you think that you will eventually get into directing films? SJ: I see directing as the natural outgrowth of what I do. But I’m still very passionate about acting. MS: What is it about acting that fuels your passion? SJ: It gives me a chance to get outside of myself and take the kinds of risks that you don’t normally take in your day to day life. I have a chance to remove myself and become this other person that’s braver than me, sometimes shyer than I am, sometimes a bit more colorful than I am and I can do it with the relative safety of a controlled environment.