Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a short phone interview I conducted with Sam The Man Jackson. I got the chance to talk to him a little about his upcoming drama RESURRECTING THE CHAMP about an old homeless man who claims to be a long lost boxing legend. He tells his story to an up and coming reporter and a story is written. But then this man’s true identity is called into question. Of course, I couldn’t help but sneak in some questions about NICK FURY and THE SPIRIT. I get probably one of the most spectacular dodges in any interview I’ve ever done. Enjoy the interview and watch for a couple clips of amazing SOUND-O-TEXT!!!

Samuel L. Jackson: Hello.

Quint: Hey, how are you doing, sir?

Samuel L. Jackson: I’m good man, how about you?

Quint: I’m doing alright.

Samuel L. Jackson: Cool.

Quint: Cool. Well, we chatted once before for SNAKES ON A PLANE back at COMIC CON.

Samuel L. Jackson: Oh, OK.

Quint: I’m sorry that it didn’t do better. I had a lot of fun with it.

Samuel L Jackson: It was still fun, you know?

Quint: Yeah.

Samuel L. Jackson: We did our part.

[Both laugh]

Quint: I saw RESURRECTING THE CHAMP at Sundance this year and when I read the description, I was like “Well, I’m going to see it…” What attracted you to the movie?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO HIS ANSWER IN AMAZING SOUND-O-TEXT AND READ ALONG!!!

Samuel L. Jackson: You know, story. The character that’s just kind of out there who is on the streets, but kind of OK with being in that place that he is in, who’s kind of a star in his own little world there still, even though he’s not the champ of the world anymore, or the champ, but he’s still a champ in his mind and in a lot of people’s hearts and a guy who is touching and very interesting to play.

Quint: When you do a film that is based on a true story do you like to jump in to the hands on research and talk to the people involved, or do you prefer to kind of step back…?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO HIS ANSWER IN AMAZING SOUND-O-TEXT AND READ ALONG!!!

Samuel L. Jackson: Actually this time I didn’t, I just kind of made up all of the things that I needed to and that’s what I did. Well… Bob wasn’t around and I didn’t want to meet his family or go through that whole thing, so I just kind of made up all of the stuff I actually needed to make up this time and kind of made it happen. It was more about creating a life for a character who had found a way to live and take care of himself on the street than dealing with the realities of who these people thought he was in terms of the sports world, because I didn’t need to know all of that.

Quint: Yeah. Well did you do any research about the homeless or did you have some of that built up from THE CAVEMAN’S VALENTINE?

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah, I had the residuals from CAVEMAN left over (laughs)… even though he’s not a paranoid schizophrenic, he still has to deal with the machinations of living in the street and moving from place to place and slight alcoholism, not as bad as anything that was going on in CAVEMAN.

Quint: He wasn’t screaming at any buildings in this one.

Samuel L. Jackson: No, not at all.

Quint: I think one of the big themes of the movie and I think what a lot of people are connecting with is the issue of fatherhood and the image of being a good father. Did that angle in particular appeal to you?

Samuel L. Jackson: You know, it was an interesting element of the story in terms of guys trying to please their fathers or fathers living up to the expectations of their children, like Erik is trying to do for his son or he’s trying to do for himself with his father and Bob, seeing that he failed with his kid… but who knows if that was real or not only because he didn’t know the kid that he was talking about or the kid who shows up had no relationship with that particular person, so it’s very interesting in that way. Then there’s the issues of truth, truth in journalism, truth in terms of what one person perceives to be the truth or is the truth or if you’ve told the story long enough, does it become your truth? You know?

Quint: So we last talked at Comic Con, but this year at Comic Con the big talk was IRON MAN. So, my big question to you is… do you like the eye patch?

Samuel L. Jackson: What? Huh?

Quint: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Samuel L. Jackson: Oh, the character, the way he looks? You know what, I look at that comic book and I kind of go “Well, I know he looks like me and if they ever do it, do I have to look this way or will I look this way?” So I guess that’s still a question that I’m waiting to answer.

Quint: Yeah?

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah.

Quint: Well do you see that as coming full circle, since they made THE ULTIMATE’S Nick Fury like you?

Samuel L. Jackson: They keep saying it and I keep looking forward to that happening and I keep running into Avi [Arad] and asking him, “Is it going to happen?” He keeps saying, “Well, we hope so… we hope so…” So that’s all I can do too.

Quint: Yeah and it’d be cool especially now that Marvel’s got their own deal going on.

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah, that would be great wouldn’t it?

Quint: I think that’s what people are really liking with this rumor.

Samuel L. Jackson: Well I hope so and I look forward to that happening.

Quint: Another comic book that you’re being mentioned with is THE SPIRIT, that Frank Miller is doing.

Samuel L. Jackson: Hmm… Yeah…

Quint: Yeah?

[Samuel L. Jackson chuckles]

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah, which will probably be fun actually... They’re still in the process of trying to cast a bunch of people for the film. I don’t know if I’m the only person that is doing it or not. I think I heard the other day that they had somebody to play SPIRIT.

Quint: Yeah, Gabriel Macht.

Samuel L. Jackson: Oh, OK. So it looks like it’s coming together and I’m looking forward to doing that.

Quint: Have you met with Frank yet?

Samuel L. Jackson: Frank? Yeah, I’ve talked to Frank a few times.

Quint: He’s a real cool guy. I’ve had the chance to talk to him a couple of times.

Samuel L. Jackson: Yeah, he’s amazingly cool.

Quint: He’s pretty much everything you would expect upon meeting him and he’s just so smart and knows what he is doing. I’m really looking forward to what he does with the movie, especially since he was mentored by Will Eisner.

Samuel L. Jackson: We’re hoping to just have a really great time shooting this film. I’m just looking forward to see who else he can get in it and there should be a lot of people attracted to it, because of the nature of the project and the nature of the people that are doing it, so hopefully that will happen.

Quint: Thank you so much for talking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.

Samuel L. Jackson: My pleasure. Have a great day.

Told you it was a spectacular dodge. As usual, this was far too short. I’d love to sit down with Jackson some day and just go over his filmography, but it seems I’m doomed to only talk with him in 5-8 minute chunks every couple years or so. A lot of good stuff on the way! Keep an eye on the site, squirts! -Quint quint@aintitcool.com