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Interview: Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson

Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson in The Spirit
  • Posted at 7:02pm
  • 16 January 2009
  • by AndrewCollins-RT

There's a 36-year age gap between garrulous Samuel L Jackson, aged 60, and shy Scarlett Johansson, 24.

But they are united by The Spirit, a super-stylised adaptation of Will Eisner's 1940s comic strip from director Frank Miller (creator of Sin City, showing on Saturday 17 and Friday 23 January BBC3).

The actors were filmed against a green screen on a "digital backlot", and the rest of the action was dropped in afterwards.

While Jackson gained fame relatively late (he was 46 when Quentin Tarantino made him an Oscar-nominated superstar in Pulp Fiction), Johansson was in her teens (14 when she turned heads in The Horse Whisperer, and 19 when she won a Bafta for Lost in Translation).

AC: We met ten years ago and you told me your golf handicap was 12. Even though my dad's the golfer, not me, what's your handicap now?
SLJ: Four. Got eight shots in ten years. Not bad.

You actually go and see your films in the cinema, with paying audiences. Screen actors usually say they can't, or don't want to.
They're full of s***. That's pretty much bulls***. They're either bad actors or they lie about it. It's a look-at-me business – why are you doing it if you don't want to watch the movie? If you don't wanna see it, you really shouldn't expect somebody else to. I choose films because they're stories I want to see and I want to see me in 'em! If you wanna act and you don't wanna see yourself, go do theatre.

You've moved into producing . . .
Yeah, but it's hard. I've got this new television deal [with US broadcaster CBS], and I've sold three shows that will probably get produced next year. TV needs to replace stuff all the time. Since the writers' strike, they lost a whole bunch of shows that didn't come back, so they're trying to replace those.

Any plans to be in any of them?
Maybe occasionally, I might pass through, the same way that Salma [Hayek] does in Ugly Betty. But I still have a career to take care of.

Unlike you, Scarlett had fame thrust upon her at an early age.
She's doing a pretty good job for herself. She's not as crazed and wild and tabloid-fodder as some of those other girls running around.

Do you get bothered by the paparazzi?
Only when I'm here. In America, I'll be at a grocery store and occasionally there's a guy there with a camera: " 'What are you doing?' 'Buying groceries. Nothing that will sell pictures.' "

So at home you can go about your business with little intrusion?
Well, the Beckhams moved into my neighbourhood, so when I drive by, the paparazzi kinda look at me and think: do they wanna chase me, or do they wanna wait and hope that Posh or Becks comes by?

You do foresee a time when you slow down?
There are certain things that I'll have to stop doing at some point, like I can't do big-ass action pictures and be as crazy as I used to be. But there are still stories to be told and there are still characters that I could portray. I always use Michael [Caine] as my example. Michael still works. Why not? I can keep going.

Where were you on the night Barack Obama was elected?
I was at work actually, shooting a film. Every time Barack would win a state, we'd stop and let off a little cheer. When McCain gave his concession speech, we stopped again. Then we went back to work.

Do you think Obama will change the world?
I think Barack will restore some respect and love for the American people that's been lost in the world. I think that we took a huge step toward rejoining the world community by saying that we'd had enough of the policies that took us to this place. The youth have been apathetic for so long. But people like my daughter, who's 26, and all her friends, who were disenfranchised, found out that they can affect change.

That seems a nice optimistic note to end on.
Thank you, bro. Ten more years!

How much higher can you get than a four handicap? Nought?
Yeah, yeah, I can get to scratch, and then you get to plus numbers, which means you play under par. Your dad will explain it to you.


And now for your co-star, Scarlett Johansson.

AC: Sam Jackson's fame came when he was over 40. You had to cope with the opposite. You appear to have dealt with it well.
SJ: You don't know the half of it! [laughs] When I was younger it didn't really feel like I was dealing or coping with anything. It wasn't like I was in a film where I became a teen sensation. I was fortunate, I would go and work on a film in the summer and then go to school. I lived a very normal childhood in that way.

You must get pursued by photographers.
Yeah, that's terrible. I hate that. It's nice to have people come up and say they like your work, but when people pursue you for monetary gain . . . it really brings out the nastier side of human existence, I feel. People feeding off each other. Maybe they'll just go away.

I suspect not.
Really? You don't think people are going to get sick of that eventually? I feel like there's got to be some kind of bubble that must pop at some point, when people don't want to know what you look like when you buy toilet paper.

Sam Jackson goes to see his own films at the cinema. Have you ever done that?
No. Maybe I'll go with Sam next time! When we were doing [Woody Allen's] Vicky Cristina Barcelona [released in cinemas on 6 February], we all thought we were making a dramatic piece. So did Woody. I thought the movie was quite sad, but at the premiere people were just rolling on the floor.


Samuel L Jackson also stars in the premiere of Snakes on a Plane, Saturday 17 January Channel 4.

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