A Jedi dream come true
For Samuel L. Jackson, it was a dream come true to have a part in "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace," which raked in about $61.8 million at the box office over the weekend, reports "CBS This Morning" co-anchor Mark McEwen.
When the first "Star Wars" was released, says Jackson, "For me, it was the '70's Errol Flynn movie. And as a kid I'd always wanted to be ... that swash-buckling pirate, you know -- jumping over stuff and getting busy that way. And all of a sudden we got some space buccaneers."
He made no secret of his desire to be in a "Star Wars" movie and eventually word got back to director-producer George Lucas.
"He invited me to the ranch to see if I was serious," Jackson, 50, recalls. "[I said], 'Look. I'll be anything. I'll be a storm trooper. You can cover my face. Send me running across the screen. Just as long as I know I was in it. I don't care if anybody else knows it or not'."
Lucas was able to do a little better than that for Jackson, and cast him as Mace Windu, head of the Jedi council.
Jackson is the second black actor to hold a major role in the Star Wars series. (Billy Dee Williams played Lando Calrissian in Episodes 5 and 6.) But, in the fictional world of "Star Wars," the issue is never race, says Jackson.
"Nobody ever mentions how anybody looks, you know," he explains. "And nobody talks about, 'Well, we had to kill the spotted guys.' It's just whoever the bad guys are, whoever the evil people are. And it's very cool that way."
Jackson has appeared in such big movies as "Jurassic Park" (1993), "Goodfellas" (1990), and "Do the Right Thing" (1989). But the role that resounds seems to be Jules, the Bible-quoting hitman, from "Pulp Fiction" (1994).
"I don't have a week go by that at least three people don't say to me, 'You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?' And I always go, 'No. What?' Cause that's Jules' line. So, now, along with that, will be 'May the Force be with you'."
(The answer to the question, by the way, is the Royale.)
The force is with him now, but for a time, Jackson battled the dark side in a well-publicized bout with drug addiction. He is now one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
"Change is a very fearful thing," he says, "and when I reached that point in my life, where I needed to make changes, I had all those fears, you know. Will I still be able to act? Will I be able to hang out with my friends? People understand that I did what I had to do, and they understand the road that I traveled. And they're really proud of what I am and how I walk it."