Samuel L Jackson On Kicking Drugs Before His First Role, Social Media, New 'Shaft' Film + More

Morning everybody, it's DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God, we are The Breakfast Club, we got a special guest in the building. Now you say we got a special guest in the building every day. That's right. Today we really do got a special fucking guest. That's right, Samuel L. Jackson is here. The legend, the icon. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning my brother. Good morning. Do you like getting up this early first and foremost? I'm up this early every day. Okay. Actually, if I'm working, I'm definitely up because I'm headed to set by 5.36, but if I'm at home, I'm headed to the golf course at 6. Okay, that's just part of your routine. Get up, go golf. Man, that's a good life. And you never get tired. A good life. I just try to make sure I'm staying in a routine that's going to work for me. Yeah. So I'm not shocked when it's time to go to work and they want me to get up and pay me to go to work at that time. What's the longest break you've ever taken in between working? Ooh, maybe, I guess when I was on Broadway, but I was still working. Yeah, that's work still. Yeah, but I wasn't getting up in the morning. I was just going to do the show. Because even like this year, you have a lot of movies coming out, but in between filming, have you ever said, you know what, I'm going to take a six-month hiatus? Well, I usually take a month off every year though. I take a month off and really go on vacation purposely. That's not that long though. A purposeful vacation. Yeah, you got to tell us your routine, man, because I look at you and I say to myself, I got something to look forward to at 70 because you look motherfucking good, man. Thank you. What do you do to stay so youthful? I have no idea. I try to stay stress-free. Okay. What about vegan? You eat meat? Yeah. I was a vegan for a minute. I was a vegan for about seven months. And you started getting sick? No, I didn't. I lost so much weight. I almost lost a job. And they said, well, if you don't gain 15, 20 pounds, we're going to have to recast. So I went straight to Shake Shack, got my life back together. So what else do you do? I do Pilates and I play golf. That's it. How do you stay stress-free though? I make enough money that I don't have to worry about what's going on. Folks say money won't solve all the problems, but it solves enough of them that I don't have to think about them. But you didn't come from money though? No, I didn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was looking at you, you was born 20 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yeah. So how different did the world look then as opposed to now? I grew up doing American apartheid. I lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They had signs. I knew where I could go, where I couldn't go, what I should do, what I shouldn't do. All those things. You kind of look at life and go, okay. And then when I hear them say it now, make America great again, I go, what are they talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I remember what they thought making America great again means. It all means who needs to be subverted or shut up or pushed back or be in charge of. How did that not harden your heart though? Like growing up in that area and seeing how white people used to treat us? Well, a loving community and people who make you understand that you are great people and there's a reason that they do this to you. That they try to keep you back because you are the richness of what the world is. That you offer something that they don't have and they know they can't have it, they want to control it. So you listen to those people. You have the right teachers. My whole school life was black. I didn't have white teachers until I got to Morehouse. So I had teachers that taught my mom and her brothers and sisters. So they knew what the expectation was in my house. They knew that people expected me to go to college, so they pushed me. They loved me. They spoke to me in glowing terms and told me that I was or the books that we got that had pages torn out, they would tell me where I could get the information that I needed or they got it for me. So people nurtured you. And I mean, even the kids that they knew weren't going to college that they knew were going into the workforce or going into the service, they guided those people into those places because the teachers cared about them because they knew those families and it was a community of black people that took care of each other on both sides of town. I got to remember that when it comes to my daughter because when I let her see something like when they see us, even like a movie like Django that's about slavery, she's like, why do white people do that? And I never know the answer to why, you know, what kept you what kept you focused because your career really got started when you got a lot older. What kept you focused on all that time to be like, I know this is for me. I love the theater and I love acting and being here in a rich community of creative people is invigorating. We went to each other's shows. We watched each other work. We went to auditions together. We talked. There was no enmity. Everybody was great together. And when you're in a rich environment of creative people that share the same goals, everybody was trying to get somewhere or everybody had a different idea about how it was going to happen. And there was enough going on or enough people moving. Like we're doing a play and all of a sudden Denzel is like, he plucked out and he's gone. It's just like, okay, so Denzel got the TV show. Now he's doing movies. Okay. Boom. Then we're doing another play. Morgan gets plucked out. Boom. He's gone. He's doing street smart. And he starts doing all this other stuff. Alfre's gone. Wesley's gone. Fish is gone. So, you know, you're in the right place, right? It's just a matter of when your time is coming and not being envious or jealous about it. And sometimes like me finding out that I was in my own way. So once I got clean, everything kind of changed. So there's a very distinct correlation of me changing my life and being focused and clear about what I needed to do and my success. So when people say, well, you know, you go to rehab and you do this, you do that. I was a week out of rehab when I started doing Jungle People. So I didn't really need makeup. I was still detoxing. That sounds like you was typecasting. No, no. So by the time I got there, I mean, I've walked on set and I went to the craft service table and the fruit of Islam was the security. They were like, man, get away from the table because they thought I was just some crackhead. Yeah, yeah. Spiderman's going, no, no, no, no, man. He's in the movie. Sam, he's in the movie. But the correlation between my career changing and me getting straight is very clear. So when people talk about relapse and this, that and the other, that is that is that is part of your recovery. It's not, you know, it's understanding that I never did one or nothing. So as long as I understand that and I get up every day and I realize today is another day, I got to stay clean. I can still deal with it. They tell us to work for 20 years. Still a guy. What was your drug of choice? Was it crack? Yeah, yeah. That was my drug of choice. Alcohol was my drug of choice. The drug of choice was the drug that was in front of me. So how hard was it to kick all those habits? Just what it was. It was that time I was tired. When you get tired enough, you don't have to worry about, you know, all that other stuff. You just kind of let it go and kind of melt into it and let the world be what the world is. And, you know, look at it with clear eyes. And they said your wife was so like strong with like now you got to go get you got to get help right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the day they found me passed out on the kitchen floor next day, I was in rehab. So did you have that level of self-awareness to know, man, I got to change my my my lifestyle in order to change my life. I was just something that they made you do. Well, she called my best friend from high school who was a drug counselor and he found a bed for me in upstate New York. So I went straight in there. I didn't go in kicking and screaming. I went in. I was tired. And I listened to what they were saying around me, you know, and and you go through it all and you do it. And then the the job came up, jungle fever, and, you know, the drug counselors were like, well, you shouldn't do that job. Shouldn't be playing a crack addict. All your triggers are going to be there. Pipes and lighters. And if for no other reason, if I never see you, you know, so that was that was motivation enough. But understanding how you feel and a clarity of vision and a purpose and what you see in. I had to stand up in front of my, I mean, then like eight, nine year old daughter and say, you know, hi, my name's Sam. I'm an addict. That's hard. Yeah. She didn't know what that was. Not really. But she knew that she's she's spent enough time with me, you know, when I was in the throes of my addiction, taking her back and forth to school. I had to ride the bus to school in the morning and drop her off at school and then go or I would sit in the playground with her while she was on the slide and push her on the swings, smoking a joint, you know, doing what everybody else does. But she knew that when I left, I went off to do something better. When they found me laying on the floor, I wasn't well. So that was that. So by the time I came back and I started hanging around with her and look at her, her clear eyes and listening to her voice and her vision of what she wanted to do and daddy, do this with me, do that with me. It makes, makes, makes, makes your life, makes you look at things a lot different. Damn right. You know, were you a crackhead, crackhead or a functioning crackhead? I was functioning. I was going to work every night. Yeah, yeah. I was still doing plays. Wow. I was working. So most, most, most of my friends wonder why she lock you up when I'm wrong with you. I was like, he was still working. They're going to work. And, you know, I wasn't stealing from the house. I wasn't, I didn't sell the TV and nothing else. No, I don't make money. You kicked it, then you thrived. And that's the, yeah. Yeah. You know, you talked earlier about, you know, having money and being successful. You still do five to six movies a year. What, what energizes you and give you that motivation to still want to do it as, as so much? You know, it's like, um, I guess it's like ball players. It always bothers me to hear that, you know, well, you know, they, uh, they are tired because they played three games. It's like, I used to play bad basketball every day outdoors on the country. Yeah. I can't stand it when it's hot and theater and working in movies. It's like that to me, it's like theater was hard. I had to get up, go to rehearsal, go do something every night from beginning to end three hours of a play from beginning to end live in front of people movies. I get up, I go to work. A long day is three pages and yes, a 12 hour day. But if I boiled it down to how much work did I do that day, I might've worked an hour and a half of those 12 hours. Most of the rest of the time I'm in my trailer sleep, watching judge Judy sandwiches, you know, watching the movie, reading the book, doing nothing. So yeah, I go to that job and it pays way better than the job I used to have. Gotcha. So yeah, I go to plus I love it. I love the idea of being able to go somewhere, do something else, be somebody else generally in a place that I normally wouldn't have gone. Like I just finished doing a movie in Croatia, which is like, Oh, so you get to explore that when you're not working and being a storyteller and an artist is one of those things. It's a blessing. Uh, there are only so many acting opportunities in a lifetime and I want to take all the ones that come before me that I want to do, you know, as often as I get a chance to do them. You know, writers get up and write, painters get up and paint. I'd like to get up and act. How serious do you take being the highest gross grossing actor of all time? Cause they say $7.5 million ain't your money. It's a dubious honor. Well, I mean it, it means that I've been on a bunch of movies that people liked that were popular and I like doing popcorn movies. I don't have this whole thing about, Oh my God, I'm a serious actor. Yeah, I'm a serious actor. I'm a serious actor. Actors make money. You put butts in seats, you make money for people. You get to make more movies. So that's what I do. And I like doing movies that I want to go see. And I like, I like movies full of gun violence. I like violent movies. That's what I like. I like scary movies. I like horror movies. I like action movies. So I'll make them. I'll make a serious movie from time to time because I want to help the, the, the writer, director, or there's somebody in it that I want to work with, but I'm not necessarily looking for, you know, no award winning dah, dah, dah. I'm, I'm just looking to go to work and have some fun. Do you ever get mad at that stat though? Like you see that number and be like, man, I ain't got none of that. No, he's doing well. I got my part. I know where my deal was and, and, and sometimes you're fortunate enough. You have a backend. So if the movie doesn't make a lot of money, you keep getting paid. There you go. How much has Hollywood changed from when you first started to where we are now? Cause we always hear about the different ebbs and flows and difficulty for people getting work and just inclusivity and all of those conversations that we're very focused on. It's changed drastically just because of, of the, the number of platforms you have to work. First of all, um, you know, when I got there, everything I read had Denzel's fishes or Forrest Whitaker's fingerprints on it. You know, let's see, they either turned it down or they were thinking about it and didn't think about it fast enough. And I was like, yeah, I'll do it. So I did it. Um, so he was always the I could have been, you know, and that's how it worked. I didn't care. I was going to work. I was, I was, I was doing what I was doing. But over the years, because of, like I said, the number of platforms, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, all of that, uh, the independent film world, there's so many jobs now and there's so many things. And because young writers, young directors populate their programs with the world as they saw it when they grew up, they went to school with Hispanic, Asian, black, white, you know, whoever, you know, they populate their stories with those people because that's who they were and that's who they are. So there's a lot more opportunity for people to work. Consequently, it still comes down to a lot of times that same thing that, you know, I used to bitch about it because I spent my time going to acting school. There are a lot of people who still do go to Juilliard and Yale and all these other people, but a lot of YouTube stars getting jobs now, you know, still people from the music industry just decide the next day and say, shit, I'm an actor. I can act and somebody give them a chance to do it. Sometimes they turn out to be okay. Sometimes not so much, but there's room now for everyone to work. Who surprised you by being really great on set that might've come from the world of Instagram or YouTube and you were like, oh, they were actually really good. I watched meth develop over the years. How was Busta when you were with Busta? Busta was fine, you know, and Busta was great as what Busta was there to be, but Busta was still, you know, a person from the music industry who you go like, we had 6.30 call, Busta be there by eight. I know that got to drive you crazy. It drive me crazy. We just do something else, man. I'll just say, can I do so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so. Yeah, you do that. And you show up and you do what you do and he's fine doing that. Is Samuel L. Jackson still coachable? Can you still learn new things in this business? I learn stuff all the time. Sometimes it's just, I don't want to work with this person again. Sometimes it's that, wow, that's a very smart person. I think I never wanted to be that. Well, you know, back in the day we used to do it like so-and-so, but I do think though that since they stopped using film, there's a difference in how young filmmakers approach what they do, that they spend a lot more time wasting time because they don't understand the economics of what it meant when you had to use film. You had to use the film, then you had to send it off to be developed, then you had to watch it, then you had to process, then you had to figure it. You couldn't waste any film. Now they got to chill. They just roll and roll and roll and roll and roll and roll and roll and you end up shooting a whole bunch of stuff you don't need and it's a day waster and they kill crews because crew members work hard, you know, and you don't want to run your crew in the ground. So I'm constantly trying to let them know that this is a team thing, you know. We're the least important people out here. It's that the guy's got to get the lights right, that guy's got to get that, that guy's got to pull the focus, and if you work them to death and they're tired, then they're not going to do the kind of job they need to do. That's going to be subpar and we all suffer because of it. What role did you pass up and like, damn, I shouldn't have passed up that role, if there's any? None. None? No, I mean, I've read films that I didn't do that people did and, you know, I feel like, you know, I feel like I was in the Matrix because I dodged a bullet. It's like, oh, that was a bad one, you know, and then there are films that I passed up that were successful that I'm glad they were successful because I would have done it differently, but I wouldn't, I don't think I would have fun doing it. I always, I always firmly believe that you only do the things that are for you. Right. I read that you almost lost your role in Pulp Fiction to another actor. Yeah. How do you think that would have changed the trajectory of your career, if that would have happened? None, because I mean, I had already, I'd already won this award at the Cannes Film Festival for Jungle Fever and I was getting the call at that time. So I did a couple of jobs after that, you know, that were between that and Pulp Fiction and what happened in there. You know, Pulp Fiction was an Academy Award nomination, which I didn't win, you know, but like I tell people all the time, you know, very seldom does an Academy Award nomination move the comma on the check. Yeah. It's all about the number of asses you put in seats. Absolutely. That you're in. Who's the other actor in that movie? The other actor? The one that you almost lost the role to, who was that? Oh, um, he's in the movie. Oh, he's in the movie. Yeah, he's actually in it. Was it a brother? He could be called a brother, he's brown. He's brown. So both of y'all ended up with the roles, it was still good. Both of us ended up in the movie. In the movie. Now, you got kicked out of Morehouse? For a minute. Now, how did you get thrown out of Morehouse and then how did they get you back in? How did they allow you to come back in? He said thrown out. God dang it. He said he got thrown out. Well, basically, we locked the board of trustees in a building. Oh, I heard about that. You kidnapped somebody. You kidnapped the people. Well, we were kidnapped and they were right there, they just didn't want to talk to us. The board of trustees, we asked to talk to them, they said we don't have time. So we took the chains off the walkway and went down the street to the hardware store, bought a padlock and went inside and chained the door shut. What were y'all trying to talk about? That was so important. No black studies, no student involvement on the trustee board, no community involvement. And we were sitting right in the middle of some projects, you know, so that was lots of different things. Real shit. The actual black members of the board didn't even have a real vote. Wow. So we were trying to get things changed. And they said, fine, we did it. And then, you know, they did the whole bullshit. Yeah. Oh, we get it. So when everybody left, when school was out, they called a specific group of us back and summarily kicked us out of school. All that was happening. And, you know, in the middle of the next year or so, my mom threatened to sue them and said, OK, you can come back. Yeah, let's get back in. Wow. Now, you worked with John Singleton on the first Shaft film, right? How did him passing, you know, change? How did it change the significance of the film? His first Shaft film, not at all. The film was done. It was done. The film was finished, wrapped in the can. Tim was off doing something else. He and Tim were good friends. Actually, John and I were about to do a film this fall. So I was kind of bummed. Is that film still going to happen? I was in Croatia. Yeah, it's going to happen. We just got to find the right director. But yeah, I was really bummed because I had just seen him. We had just talked. We just spent some time together talking about this other film, how we wanted it to happen and how much fun we were going to have. You didn't want John on Shaft? I didn't have anything to do with that. OK, gotcha, gotcha. But no, John was busy doing his TV shows. His TV show was dope. Yeah, Snowfall. Snowfall? Yeah. TV show was awesome. Do you love Shaft? The movie, the character, the Richard character, my character. That was just crazy how you asked that question like that. What are we talking about here? How does Shaft make you feel? Because whoever wrote those lines... Now trying to get a soundbite. Would it be painful to have three Shafts instead of one? It's always good. More Shaft than you can handle. That was a good tagline. I was just talking about the movie in general, just the whole franchise. Yeah. When I was young in 71, when I'm sitting in the theater watching the first one, it's a complete revelation because I hadn't been in New York yet. I was still in Atlanta. Harlem looked like this mystical, dark, dangerous, sexy place. I was like, oh shit, I'm going to check that out. And then you got this dude, he's like cool. For us, before Shaft, the cool black person was Link Hayes. I know who that is. Clarence Williams III. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. His Afro, his little dark glasses. Yeah, I remember him from Tales from the Hood. Little army jacket, he's like totally dope. So that was us. And then Richard changed that whole dynamic. Being a sex machine for all the chicks, the leather coats, the good fro, the tough guy, friend to all the brothers, connected in all these different places in Harlem. And a motherfucker could just step in traffic and car stop on him. So, fuck, this is dope. And then that started the blaxploitation era. So by the time John came to me in 2000 and said, yeah, man, let's do another Shaft. I'm like, well, why? This dude's still alive. Why the fuck are you doing another Shaft? And it's like our first black superhero. He's a mythologically cool, dope-ass person that set a standard. It felt untouchable. For blackness. So he's like, well, it's time. You know, we need one for the new generation. And I thought about it. Okay, but if I'm in it, then Richard's got to be in it. So they'll know that I'm not replacing him. He's still John Shaft. So I get a chance to create whoever I want to create. So I had a chance to create an angrier, edgier John Shaft. And, you know, no film like that is complete without a great villain. And thank God, you know, we had Jeffrey. Because in the original script, Christian Bale was like the main bad guy. And I was looking at that going, I can just drive this house a shooter. You know, why are we doing this? But this guy, Peoples, I need to work on this character. So they worked on the Peoples character. Jeffrey just came in and killed it. I think it's dope how they merged the three generations. Like, I seen the Shaft with you in your original one with my pops. My pops was the fan of the original one. And now I have a son. So now when it comes out, we all go together. It merges and explains the story. So you've experienced three generations of Shaft. But I love the fact that it does that. How was it working with the young actors? See, it's crazy, though, because the music, first thing, the music connects you. Even before you saw the first one, your dad was playing that soundtrack. So the music is always part of our culture. Once it was out there, Isaac did that. That music is like, boom, cemented it up. Why didn't they use it for this movie? They did. Somebody told me that they didn't clear it for this movie or something. His son actually gave us music that Isaac never released. He was around the set a lot, Isaac Hayes Jr. So he actually gave us music that was never released. When they came to me and said, we want to do another Shaft, but we want to do it as a comedy. I was like, well, you know. You got to be smooth. Shaft's pretty serious in our community. You know, we can't take the mythology and make him a before. Right. You know, we can find a way to make some humor here. And then they said, well, bring your son. His son, who was raised in the suburbs, doesn't know anything about it, but he has to come to you for help. So when he gets there, you pretty much got to teach him what it means to be a Shaft in Harlem. And OK, we can we can make some hay out of it. So we, you know, messed around with it and came up with it. And, you know, it works out. And Jesse is a good kid. I like Jesse. I used to watch his TV show, Survivor's Remorse. Oh, yeah, that was a great show. Yeah. So I auditioned with a lot of kids. He was the one that, you know, stood out. And there's a very interesting contrast and a very great dynamic between he and I. It works really well. We have a really good, good chemistry together. And his mom is played by Regina Hall. It's just amazing. Phenomenal. Absolutely. She kills it. So let me ask you about Harlem today, right? Because this is Shaft 2019. So what kind of role does Harlem today play? Because it is different than what Harlem was like even 20 years ago. Well, if you look at hours, you can't really tell that. It looks like it did when I lived up there in, you know, the 70s. It's funny, though, because the first day we pulled up to work in Harlem, the first eight people we saw were white. It's a different Harlem. I was like, with a Starbucks cup in their hand. Where we at? What street is this? So it was pretty out there to see that, you know, and the change of the, I guess, culture. Yeah, because you've seen it since Juice. Yeah. That's crazy. And I lived on 143rd Street between Amsterdam and Broadway for 19 years. Right. That was our house. So to see it, or to be able to walk from my house to 125th Street and walk up and down 125th Street, I mean, I miss the, you know, dude selling bullet tapes. It's still out there on 125th. Not too much anymore. No one's selling bullet tapes anymore. I mean, not tape, but you can still get some old DVDs. Hell yeah. Especially when it comes to like old DVDs. People don't even have DVDs. Like Hidden Colors and all that stuff like that. Like they definitely still sell a little bit of it. A little bit of it. Not a lot. Well, it's still the people selling, you know, African jewelry and patchouli. Yeah. The patchouli and the incense. The oil. Yeah. The cologne. Shave butter. Yeah, you can get that. But, you know, the liquorice root, all that other stuff that I was used to getting when I walked up and down the street and seeing it, you know, it's changed. Yeah, a lot. What about social media and modern technology in this shaft? He's the kid that understands that in another kind of way that my analog ass doesn't necessarily understand. That's part of the generational difference that we use in the film to like create humor and how he can show me things that I didn't know. And, you know, there are some slightly un-PC jokes in here that he helps fix also. You know, there's a whole joke about this organization called Brothers Watching Brothers. We keep questioning. That sounds like a sequel to Shaft right now. Yeah, right. Funny how that plays out. We shot a lot of the movie in Atlanta. So when you say Brothers Watching Brothers, they go, oh, they're here. They just immediately jump on there. Oh, yeah. Lennon's Mall. It's like, oh, man. That casting call for Shaft in Atlanta got to be funny as hell. I didn't say that. I got to reflect. I got to translate the real life for you, too, though, as far as social media, right? Like, that's got to be a culture shock to you in a lot of ways. Atlanta? No, not Atlanta, man. Social media. Well, Sam Jackson or John Shaft? You in real life. Samuel L. Jackson. I got a gang of followers. Yeah, he's pretty good on there. I know, but I'm saying when people. I'm not bad with my social media. I manage it myself, which is always amazing. People, they always go, well, somebody else is doing this. No, it's me. I feel like it has to be you. I disappear sometimes, and I show back up. But what about when you go to your mentions and they talking crazy to you about something? I don't care nothing about that. My daughter told me a long time ago, don't interact. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I read that shit. Anything ever hurt your feelings? I read shit. I block shit. I block motherfuckers and keep going. That stuff got blocked by Samuel L. Jackson. Was there anything that ever hurt your feelings? No, motherfuckers don't know me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. How are you as a dad and a husband? Because you are the curse king. You will curse. Will you like that as a dad? Yeah, curse the whole interview. I don't know. You have, Charlamagne. Yeah, pretty much. You probably used to hear me do it, so you don't know. Yeah, I didn't even know. It's lit by past tense. I was, yeah, I'm that guy. I never talk, baby talk to my daughter. I just talk to her. What do you mean? No, no, goo goo, ga ga? Shut up! You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to talk to them. No, I talk to her. I heard her, you know, say fuck you to her friends when she was little. What did you say? Good girl? Look, you can talk like that to your friends, but you can't talk like that to grown people. Okay. Did you ask what did they do? And you're like, yeah, fuck them. No, I could hear them talking. I could hear them talking or whatever. My wife tells this story. We actually went to a friend of ours wedding in Detroit. And this lady was carrying Zoey. And she said, baby, you want some of this food? And Zoey looked. What is that shit? And the lady was like, what? And then she's like, who's baby? And she's like, no, that shit looks fucked up. And the lady just put her down. I was like, who's baby is this? But that's who she is. But we never shielded her or talked to her. Plus, she went to the theater with us all the time. When she was small, we had to go to work. So we'd take her to the theater. She'd hang out with the stage manager. She'd go backstage, collect valuables, talk to all the actors, hang out with them. So she's a cool kid growing up. Very cool kid growing up. Now she's still a cool kid. She's got a great job. She's good work ethic. She produces shows like Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. She did last season's Project Runway. Would you go back to Broadway? I know your wife's in there. Would you go back? Yeah. I think about it all the time. I mean, I like doing plays. I like the live audience. You know, I mean, nothing beats the sound of that. Right. Those checks they give you are always great. But it's not like I see them. But I love the applause. I love going to the theater. So I'm giving it some thought. I'm just waiting on the right thing to come along. You've been married, man, 38 years, right? How long? 40 this year. 40. Oh, congratulations, man. Give us a round of applause. Give us young men some tips on how to have that kind of longevity in a marriage. I guess like my wife says, you got to have some amnesia. I heard her say that. I was like, yeah. Both of you, man, both of you. You got to have a little amnesia from time to time. And understand that when you're in a bad place, there's a way to work it out. It's easy to walk away. But to create a strong relationship, you got to work through things sometimes. And you just do it. And I guess sometimes we're fortunate enough that there is an issue that I got to go on location or she goes to work somewhere. And it gives us time to have some space. Think about it, let it breathe. And you're able to look at it. And sometimes you just got to say you're sorry when you ain't. And you got to own it, own that, you know, own the I'm sorry, you know, and just let it go and just keep on moving. Well, you know, today is National Black Men Don't Cheat Day. What? National Black Men Don't Cheat Day. We just came up with that, man. Black Men Don't Cheat Day. And there ain't no makeup. It's to be changing the narrative. That's right. Black Men Don't Cheat. Just today? No, man. Thank you. That's what I said. We're celebrating. For one day, y'all not cheating? We're celebrating monogamy. That's right. And men that are faithful to their women. We're celebrating. I've been married 18 years. He's been married. Me, him, you. Yeah, you. OK. Has it been hard to be faithful all these years, especially being in Hollywood? It ain't got nothing to do with Hollywood. People keep saying that shit. It's like, you know. Everybody cheats. It don't matter if you work. So the voice rate is the same everywhere. Yeah. It ain't just Hollywood. Like Chris Rock said, a man is only faithful to his options. Stars get way more options. So do doctors. That's true. Doctors are the number one on the list of cheating, actually. So do pro tennis players. Golfers. Race car drivers. The guy who works in the cell phone store. The manager. That ain't true. Right. Yes, it is. The man in the cell phone store ain't getting as much. They need people every single day coming in and out of there, setting up phones. Yeah, he is. No. Definitely true. He ain't getting the options that's happening now. The manager at Walmart. Definitely has options. You know what you're talking about. So has it been easy or hard for you to remain faithful? I guess it's easy. I'm an only child. So I'm very comfortable with myself. I like being alone. So I know how to entertain myself. That sounds crazy. Yeah, that sounds like you got a lot of lotion on deck, which is good. That's fine, too. Once I got sober, it was easier for me to be comfortable with me. I didn't need to validate my existence with other people or other things or substances or praise from people. I mean, when I was using and I started to get a little famous, I used to, like, leave the hotel just to see how many people recognized me. Yeah, yeah. You know, or that kind of thing. You know, trying to get it. Ego. Ego boost. Seeing what it meant. Because I could be with people who were in movies with me and they had a bigger role and people, oh my God, you were awesome. And I could be standing and they didn't even know I was. Right. Damn. So it's easier not to fall prey to what people tell you about yourself or feel the smoke being blown up, yes, or or or or take the praise for what it is or understand that, OK, if I do this, it's going to be more trouble than it's worth. That's right. You know, so a moment of instant gratification is not, you know, as valid as the relationships that I have or that I, you know, the history that I've created with somebody that I know. And that's exactly why black men don't cheat. That's not true. But there's probably no way. That's exactly why. He's looking at you like you're crazy. Will you sell out? Who assigned you on? I'm just saying. He's reality here. Now, there's probably nowhere you can go now where people don't recognize you. Actually, there are. Like where? I can't imagine that because I feel like everybody and every genre, no matter age, knows who you are. Interestingly enough, you know, we at one point, I belong to this group, Artists for New South Africa. And we went to we identified these kids whose parents had died from AIDS in this village. And we kind of built a daycare center, dug a well and did all this stuff. We went out to see them. They had no idea who we were. Wow. You know, because they don't have electricity. So no TVs, no movie theaters, no nothing. We're just these people who did something, you know, and help. There's them. I was in Tiananmen Square. I could walk around Beijing. Pretty much free. Really? I would think in Beijing they would know you. All depends on what part of town. Right. But there's specific parts of town that or the country that people don't have movie theaters and they don't they aren't allowed to see. They only let like 10 American movies in a country a year. So it's very different in China. Are there times that it gets frustrating for you to go out and every like people, a lot of people do know who you are, obviously, to go out and know that you're going to have to deal with that? Are you ever like, I don't even feel like leaving because I don't really feel like it today. No, that's one thing I don't let happen. I'm not going to let, you know, fans dictate where I can and can't go or what I can and can't do. Like I was I was this guy way before I was a famous guy. So I know how to put headphones on and do like that, even if it's not on. Well, now that now they know. You was in L.A., you got mistaken for Lawrence Fishburne when he was on KTLA. I was actually in Atlanta and I was in Atlanta. OK, OK. I was in the studio that morning doing remotes and he caught me when I was, you know, just frustrated enough and been in there about an hour changing radio stations and TV stations every eight minutes or whatever. He just got me in a bad time. That had to be. Not really. I was just messing with him because I know Sam knows better. He just caught me at a bad time. I just decided to, you know, not let him off the hook. I couldn't let him off the hook at any point. Why not? I'm having fun now. Why not? I love the fact. I love the fact that when you do your movies, I was watching an interview that you said that if they bring you something that you don't like, you just won't do it. You won't try it. We're not going to tape it. I'm not going to change my life or how I feel about anything. And when did you get to that point? Or was it always like that? Um, when the first time a director said to me, all right, we'll do it your way and we're going to try it this way. And then I had to understand. I don't get to go to the editing room. So when they ask you to do something that's not part of your plan, they're going to look at that thing that they asked you to do first, because that's what they like. Right. You know, and there's a reason that he's on that side of the camera and I'm on this side. So and once I figured out the hierarchy, when you're a young actor, you, you pretty much can't do that. I mean, you go along with the program, but then when you figure out, you know, when they're shooting the money, I'm not going to do that because that's not what the character would do. And I got a plan to go from here to here, to here, to here, to here. And you see something that they just put in there. You kind of go, just threw off my whole plan, right? Watch movies and you go, damn, that guy, he was doing this over there and now he's feeling like this. That's because the director had something in his head that he wants him to do. So I generally go with the, y'all hired me for a reason. Let me do what I do. Now, I saw recently you were getting a tattoo removed, right? I saw on your Instagram, you said tattoo removal. Yeah, that's fake tattoo. Oh, okay. I was like, what tattoo did you have that you were getting removed? Um, in Hitman's Bodyguard, I have all these crows. Okay. That represent people that I've killed. And there's a big tree on the back of my head with crows flying off of it. So she takes that off every day. She puts it on every day and she takes it off. You talk about walking down the street. I know kids got to bother you because of the role in Nick Fury. No. They don't? Kids generally don't. Their parents make their kids do it. Oh, got you, got you, got you. Take a picture with him, take a picture with him. That's Frozone, baby. You can see the kid going, no, no, no, that's not, no. The role in Nick Fury, you got that role because they were already modeling the character after you in the comics. Yeah, in Ultimate. Because the writer said that, uh... Mark Miller. Yeah, Mark Miller said you was his favorite actor. So did you ever... Yeah, he also did the guy in Kingsman. Oh, okay. Did you ever want to suit him at all? Like, they was using your likeness. Well, it was the first book. I saw it in the first comic and I called my agent and asked about it and they called Marvel and they were like, oh yeah, we do plan to make these movies and we hope Sam will be part of it. And that's when they, you know, I went in and I got that nine picture deal. Wow. There you go. So it all worked out. That's the plan. Have you ever hated a character you had to play? Because there's characters that you've had to play and were like, that person is like in Django. He doesn't mind playing the villain. That's right, he don't mind playing the villain. You know, but people definitely... Steven had his fans. Yeah, Uncle Ruckus. A lot of people like Steven just because Steven is unapologetically evil. Steven is who Steven is, yeah. I had a great time playing Steven. Yeah, they always use that as a meme on social media now. Whenever they want to call somebody a sellout, Uncle Tom, that meme pops up. Anybody ever tried you like that? I don't mind that. Yeah. That character made so many people so mad. Listen. It's acting though, it's called food. I know, and that's the point of it. I did stuff in that movie that's not in the movie that really would have made you mad. Really that bad? Hopefully one of these days, Quentin will put it out there. I can't imagine. He was like, I don't want people to kill you. Because that's another case where I saw the movie, it's like, man, what happened to my scene? I can't even imagine what he might have done that was worse than what we saw. Really? I mean, I can in my head, but... Would you do that role in this political climate? You know, you got all these woke people. Yeah. It's a role. I mean, when people ask about it, I mean, actors should be able to portray whatever they need to portray. You played it very well. Too well. Thank you. I was like, damn it, I can't. I really like him, but I really don't like him today. That's a good act. That's what a good actor's supposed to do. Now Samuel L. Jackson got to leave in a second, guys. But you still enjoyed it. I did enjoy it. He definitely made that movie. You're right, you're right. Pull that nigga on that nag. That was the villain. Come on now. As soon as you saw him, he's like, oh my God, what is he talking about? In the big house? He gonna sleep in the big house? Now you predicted Donald Trump was gonna be in office, right? Now, what predictions do you have now? I got any predictions for next year, 2020? Not really. I haven't found that right person yet. I'm still trying to figure out who's gonna help us with the resistance. Who is that person? I don't know who that person is just yet. I'm looking for somebody with a bit more political clout that's more like Stacey Abrams. So nobody stands out to you? No. Man, they got the whole Avengers on the Democratic side and not one? Not yet. I mean, it's not like I'm not gonna vote for whoever's on that side. I just hope that there's a credible person that can inflame the young people and encourage them to get out and take part of the political process again and understand that they gotta claim it. Even if you don't like the people that are doing it right now, you gotta do something to claim it. Talk to people that you think are smart enough or people that are angry enough that will get in there and work toward making this a better place. I'm not gonna be here that much longer. I get it and I know it, but I don't want to leave a place where my daughter and even you guys have got to struggle with assholes that don't care about your well-being or the planet. Not only don't care about the people, they don't care about the place. Can the government ever really do anything for black and brown people though? Of course they can. Can they? Yeah, universal health care is one thing. If they finally get it and allow people to get healthy and be healthy. Social security. People worked all their lives. Give them their fucking money. They put it in there. I just feel like we've been screaming about the same thing for years. Yes, we have and because who's running it? Yeah. The same people that want to regulate women's bodies, you know? Because I don't even think all less about, you know, all women's bodies. Because they don't care if y'all still get abortion. Right, at all. They just want to stop everybody else from getting it. That's why I don't like you saying you're not going to be here because you're 70 but all of our Joe Biden's 74. Why should I vote for him? He may not be here. Well, you should vote for him if there's no other choice. Right. Because there's no other choice. But you're right. You do want somebody who's vibrant who's going to be here. I mean, everybody probably would. We would have been happy if Barack could have had another term. Absolutely. You know, and this fool's talking about, well, I want to stay. He might not go. You know, that might start a whole nother fight. I was thinking that same thing. Yeah. You know. Well, we appreciate you joining us. I know you got to go. Coming to America. Are you going to rob Prince Hakeem in this one? Are you in this one? I asked them that because somebody was asking me about, you know, coming to America. And I was like, well, you owe me back. And I was like, do I own McDowell's now? I don't know. Maybe you just got out of jail and you go rob him again. Damn, what time you get for a robbery? Let me know what's happening. Maybe he could be reformed. He was a super predator. That's about right. Super predator. 94 crimes. No, I would like it if he was reformed and he actually had a business now. And he, you know, had changed his life around. That's your choice? Yeah. Okay, fine. I'm a positive, optimistic person. All right. Well, it's Samuel L. Jackson. Thank you for coming. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.