Samuel L. Jackson: I'm a badass

Samuel L. Jackson gets hired because of his badass and quirky tendencies.

The king of cool is one of Hollywood’s most sought after actors, and Samuel summarises this is because when you recruit him for a role you know exactly what you’re getting.

“When you hire me for a film, it’s for a reason. Because you want me to yell a lot, because I’m a badass or because you’re going to allow me to be as quirky and creative as I can be,” Samuel explained to British magazine ShortList.

The star is about to grace the big screen as Valentine in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

He stars alongside Colin Firth and newcomer Taron Egerton in the spy flick, which tells the story of a veteran secret agent taking a young upstart under his wing. The part was easy for Samuel, who admits he’s always had a supervillain mentality.

“When kids in class laughed at me I became smarter than them, so I could f**k their lives up. I wasn’t that passive smart kid. If you beat me up, an ‘accident’ would happen to you. Maybe not that day or even that year, but somewhere down the line…” he smiled.

Colin also jumped at the chance to star in the film, welcoming the opportunity to mix it up with cinema genres. He immersed himself fully into the role of Harry Hart and even tried his hand at his own stunts.

“I did exercise [before the film], but that was more about staving off the ravages of middle age,” Colin laughed.

“The thing that appealed to Matthew [Vaughn, director] was casting somebody no one would imagine as a cold-steel killer. That said, it’s less of a gag to say, ‘Oh, you’d never expect [Colin Firth] to do this action stuff,’ then cut to a stuntman doing it. So I had to get into shape. It was tough; three hours a day for six months.”