I sent an e-mail to Samuel L. Jackson congratulating him on his nine-movie deal with Marvel Studios and he shot back an answer right away: "Thanks for even caring. It's always a joy lose an eye, gain a patch and a really big facial scar in the name of character. Plus, I get to run the largest world-peace task force in the world, S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm glad that in the end we were able to reach across the aisle and put our differences aside and do what's best for the franchise and the fans ... & ME TOO!"

I talked to him by phone a couple of hours later (all of this was late last week, right before I left for WonderCon in San Francisco) and he said there was no false posturing in his dealings with Marvel; he had reached a point where he was quite sure he would never play the role of Nick Fury. "No one was more surprised than me that it turned around," he said. "It's great that it did."

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

Samuel L. Jackson will wear Nick Fury's patch in nine films

Samuel L. Jackson picks up the sword again for "Afro"

Favreau and Downey look ahead to "Iron Man 2" and "Avengers"

Photo: Los Angeles Times. Image: Marvel Comics

So a few weeks ago I sat down with Samuel L. Jackson and he was ready to walk away from Marvel Studios and all of their big plans for him as Nick Fury, the one-eyed Marvel character that has been fighting the good fight against Nazis, spies and aliens for decades. The issue, of course, was money.

"There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down," Jackson told me during the interview at the Four Seasons Hotel. "I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal.'"

Well, it turns out that hardball is a lucrative sport. Here's the story from the trades, written by Borys Kit, one of Hollywood's busiest reporters:

The actor, who just weeks ago was seemingly on the outs with the studio over reprising his role as Nick Fury, agent of spy outfit S.H.I.E.L.D., has signed an unprecedented nine-picture deal to play the character in a series of Marvel movies.

The movies include "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America," "The Avengers" and its sequels.

Also on the table is the possibility of toplining a "S.H.I.E.L.D." movie, which is in development.

The actor, repped by ICM and Anonymous Content, made a surprise appearance as Fury at the end of the first "Iron Man," throwing geeks into a tizzy and showing the first glimpse of Marvel's plan to link all their slate of movies into one filmic universe.

Jackson and Fury were expected to be part of the sequel, but as Marvel negotiated with its cast, deals proved hard to come by. Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle. Mickey Rourke still doesn't have a deal for the part of a villain despite almost two months of negotiations.

When I met with Jackson he seemed really bent out of shape but, well, he is an actor. Regardless, I'm sure he is smiling today. A nine-movie deal is quite a bit of job security for an action hero who blew out 60 candles on his last birthday. And the commitment by Marvel also assures the star that he will be the glue that holds together the Marvel Universe on screen during the ambitious plan to interconnect movie franchises on an unprecedented scale.

--Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

Samuel L. Jackson picks up the sword again for "Afro"

Favreau and Downey look ahead to "Iron Man 2" and "Avengers"

Spider-Man swings toward Broadway

Credit: Samuel L. Jackson in January 2009, photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

It's a point of pride for Samuel L. Jackson that if you list every film in which he has starred or appeared and add up their box-office receipts, the collective total would be higher than any other on-screen actor in history. That might be some arcane career calculus, but it does speak to the 60-year-old actor’s crowded schedule and crowd-pleasing sensibility.

On a recent afternoon, talking about his varied pursuits, Jackson began a sentence with, "In my spare time ..." but couldn’t even finish the thought without laughing out loud. Jackson appeared in six films last year, and when discussing his upcoming ventures he has to pause to remember some of the titles and costars.

Next up, though, is a project that is near and dear to his heart: "Afro Samurai: Resurrection," a two-hour animated film that premieres this Sunday night on Spike TV and then hits stores as a DVD release on Feb. 3. In it, Jackson reprises his dual role as the Afro, a haunted warrior in a bleak world, and also his sidekick, the motor-mouthed Ninja Ninja.

The cartoon adapts the vision of manga star Takashi Okazaki and melds the stylized sword violence with the music of RZA, the hip-hop auteur of Wu-Tang Clan fame. "It’s a wonderful adventure about a black samurai in a post-apocalyptic world that’s a rich blend of the ancient and the new with a hip-hop beat," said Jackson, who is also executive producer. "It’s sexy, violent and extremely cool."

EXCLUSIVE AND UPDATED

Samuel L. Jackson, clearly bristling, said today that negotiations to put him in the role of Nick Fury have broken down because "there seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world."

Jackson told me today that despite his cameo as the hard-bitten military man at the end of "Iron Man," it now appears that "somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it" when it comes to "Iron Man 2," "The First Avenger: Captain America" and "The Avengers," the announced slate of Marvel Studios projects through 2011 that might have a natural spot for the character.

Jackson, who is a fanboy favorite after roles in three "Star Wars" films, "The Incredibles" and "Unbreakable," was actually used as the model for the Ultimate Marvel version of Fury, which took the white, grizzled, aging commando with salt-and-pepper hair and re-imagined him as a younger, bald African American. There were cheers in theaters at the end of "Iron Man," when Jackson appeared as Fury, but when I asked the actor about it today he shook his head.

"I saw ['Iron Man' and 'Iron Man 2' director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, 'I hope things are working out for you because we're writing stuff for you.' Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren't really working that well."

Jackson might just have been taking a public position that could lead to a bigger payday (it certainly wouldn't be the first time a Hollywood star used an interview as a negotiating tactic) but he seemed especially sour on the whole the topic of working with Marvel ...

I ran into Gabriel Macht -- literally-- last week at the premiere of "The Spirit." We were both in the lobby of Grauman's Chinese Theatre walking briskly in different directions when we collided. He smiled and gave me big slap on the back -- the guy seemed to be glowing, he was so excited. We had met last summer when I was the moderator of "The Spirit" panel in Comic-Con International in San Diego and then we met up recently for a cup of coffee and an interview that we conducted while hiking through the Hollywood Hills.

That interview resulted in the story below, which is running in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow as a lead-up to the opening of "The Spirit" on Christmas Day.

Once upon a time, superhero roles were considered career-killers. But not anymore, not with Christian Bale, Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman proving that if the glove fits, you should wear it.

Still, for Gabriel Macht, who suits up as the latest masked man in “The Spirit,” which opens Christmas Day, there are new and different risks in this modern era of cinematic crime fighting.
For one thing, there’s the danger of getting upstaged by the bad guy, who in “The Spirit” happens to be the nefarious Octopus, a near-invulnerable crime boss played with great zeal by Samuel L. Jackson. Macht first got a sense of that threat while doing an informal script read-through with his future costar.

“I needed earplugs when Samuel L. Jackson started doing lines, he had the volume at 11,” Macht said with a bewildered smile a year after the table read. “Look, when actors come to read-through in Hollywood they don’t give anything; everything is a whisper. They’re not risking, they’re not showing anything, and they’re not trying to do stuff with the character. The attitude is: ‘Put on a camera, get me lights and makeup and hair and wardrobe, that’s when I’ll perform.’ Not Sam. He shows up and he was screaming and went crazy. It lifted everyone. And I knew way back then that we were going to be taking chances in this movie.”

And “The Spirit," is absolutely a film that cranks the volume and goes for broke. The movie aspires to mint a leading-man career for Macht, who may be a veteran of the New York stage and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama but has a Hollywood résumé of supporting roles and indie fare. The movie is the solo directorial debut of Frank Miller, the acclaimed comic book creator, and, like his artwork in the pages of “300” and “Sin City,” “The Spirit” is a stylized vivid visual swirl that instantly divided viewers into love-it-or-hate-it factions at advance screenings. 

Welcome to your post-Thanksgiving edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

Superman, back to the beginning: A few months ago, Richard Donner told me he that he wishes Hollywood would allow writer Geoff Johns to script the next Superman film. Well, if some studio executive is curious about how Johns would handle a reboot of the franchise all they will have to do is pick up a copy of "Superman: Secret Origin," a back-to-Smallville series that will premiere in the early months of 2009. Johns gave Matt Brady the lowdown on his vision for the Clark Kent series, which sounds extremely promising to me: "We haven't seen a modern-day retelling of Clark's first adventure as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, or the day Superman met Jimmy Olsen or the origins of Superman's longtime enemies like the Parasite and Metallo. More importantly, Clark Kent himself will be explored in his earlier years in a way I don't think he's ever been explored before. And freaking Gary Frank, one of the greatest Superman artists in history already, is illustrating it. Every cover, every panel, every line. For longtime readers -- with the inclusion of the Legion of Super-Heroes back in Superman's history, General Zod introduced and all the other changes made post-'Infinite Crisis' nearly three years ago -- they've been requesting a definitive secret origin. 'Man of Steel' was brilliant and 'Birthright' was a beautiful book, but 'Superman: Secret Origin' will be what lines right up for the modern-day monthly books. It will feature new looks at the origin of not only Superman, but some of his greatest allies, enemies and supporting cast and it will tie into everything Gary and I have done so far on 'Action Comics' as well as setting the stage for the future." The entire article is well worth reading and, again, it's right here. [Newsarama]

Logan's run: The always interesting Empire Magazine from across the Atlantic has a first-look image of Hugh Jackman from next year's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" film and he looks ... well, pretty much the same way he looked in the three "X-Men" films. That's not a bad thing and, according to my wife, it is in fact a very good thing. Here's the promotional blurb from Empire: "It's that time again, and the new issue of Empire is about to hit the shelves. And this month we have a very exciting, news-packed feature from the set of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine,' which is why the glowering mutant himself adorns our front cover. We got the lowdown from star Hugh Jackman, director Gavin Hood, Liev Schreiber (who plays Victor Creed) and many more for the full picture from the film's set, and here's a taster of what they're going for. 'There's a scene in the first "X-Men movie," ' said Jackman, 'where Wolverine's introduced in a bar, fighting in a cage, and you felt that he did this every night of his life. If this movie is successful, you should feel that this guy can walk straight off the end of this film and into that bar.' We also heard a little bit from Danny Huston on his take on the sinister William Stryker. 'The thing about Stryker is that he feels like he's got this God-given right, that he's on a crusade. He both loves and hates mutants, because his son was a mutant and murdered his wife. So he understands what they're going through but despises their force, their potential danger. It's wonderfully complicated.' 'In Logan and Creed,' continues Huston, 'Stryker finds his children and hones their powers like racehorses. But as in the world of horse racing, when your horse breaks his leg and is suddenly useless, he has a very cold way of looking at them. And he's also a mad scientist excited by the possibilities of what he can do to mutants.'" [Empire]

Samuel L. Jackson gets spooky: The world's greatest f-bomber, Samuel L. Jackson, will be honored tonight with the 23rd Annual American Cinematheque Award at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Jackson, who turns 60 this month, is intensifying his focus on his career as a producer, and in a recent interview with Jerry Endling, he told the reporter to watch for a pair of television projects, including one with fantasy themes: "I have two ideas that are about to come to fruition. One's a cop show, and the other one is sort of a supernatural show about these immortal women -- it's four women that were placed here at the beginning of time to guard us against the forces of evil. And they have personal lives that we'll get involved in, which will be strange from women who are thousands of years old and who've had relationships with people throughout history. And the cop show, we're actually trying to figure out if we can set in a city like Atlanta, because that's a place we haven't seen, and there's two very different guys who have just become detectives. One has been a detective who's been in an undercover situation for about five years, and the other one has been a beat cop." [Hollywood Reporter]...ALSO: If you haven't seen it, check out this photo gallery of Jackson's ever-changing hair styles on screen, which was put together in very witty fashion by Hero Complex contributor Chris Lee.

Mediocrity most excellent: The latest issue of Chris Ware's always fascinating series "The Acme Novelty Library" (from publisher Drawn & Quarterly) has reviewer Richard Gehr marveling at its loopy worlds of heartbreak: "Bleak, yet brilliant. The party line on Chris Ware's ongoing Rusty Brown graphic novel is in no danger of wavering with its latest installment ... the Chicago cartoonist's operating trope this time around is low-brow -- even no-brow -- science fiction. Following some typically self-abnegating boilerplate ('The contents of this volume ... should not be interpreted as an artistic response to recent criticisms and/or reviews of this periodical'), the book opens with 'The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars.' Attributed to one W. K. Brown (one F. C. Ware holds the copyright on the 'Library' itself), the 33-page faux-SF story demonstrates yet again Ware's genius for mimicking the mediocre, exquisitely. A study in blues, oranges, and browns, Brown's 'Seeing Eye Dogs' recounts a romance gone savagely wrong during a mission to colonize Mars." [Village Voice]

-- Geoff Boucher

Photos: "Superman: Secret Origin" art by Matt Brady, Samuel L. Jackson and "The Acme Novelty Library" cover. Credits: DC Comics; Alejandra Villa /For The Times

At Comic-Con on Friday, I moderated "The Spirit" panel with Frank Miller, Deborah Del Prete, Jaime King and Gabriel Macht, but really, the star of the show was Samuel L. Jackson, who hit the stage knowing full well that the audience belonged to him. It was great talking to Sam backstage as well and he mentioned his upcoming work in the movie "Lakeview Terrace." It sounded intriguing and left me wanting to know more -- and this morning I got my wish thanks to John Horn, one of the top journalists at the L.A. Times (or anywhere else). Here's an excerpt:

The Los Angeles Police Department and race relations factor prominently in a number of celebrated dramas, including "Crash" and "L.A. Confidential." The upcoming thriller "Lakeview Terrace" pushes the often combustible mix of law enforcement and ethnic identity into a notably different direction: the film's racist police officer is black.

Many events conspire to drive LAPD Officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) off the deep end, but one of the film's more incendiary ideas focuses on the role of interracial romance. Part of what transforms Turner from a man with a badge into the neighbor from hell is the newly married couple next door: Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) is white, while his wife, Lisa (Kerry Washington), is black.

"It was a different take, something that is not often portrayed," said James Lassiter, who with actor Will Smith produced "Lakeview Terrace" for Sony's Screen Gems. Race, Lassiter added, "is not the singular driver of [Turner's] hate. But he is a racist."

It's not just that Turner disapproves of his neighbors' latte-sipping lifestyle, which includes indiscreet romantic encounters, liberal friends and -- the horror! -- a hybrid car (Turner's a giant SUV-driving right-winger). Turner, a single father of two, also can't stand that the skin color of his neighbors isn't the same. "You can listen to that noise all night long," Turner at one point says to Chris as he listens to rap music, "but when you wake up in the morning, you'll still be white."

Read more on Jackson and "Lakeview Terrace."

-- Geoff Boucher

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/Screen Gems

Samuel L. Jackson explains what "BadMoFoKos" are, pays homage to L.A. comics haven Golden Apple, and decides who would win in a battle between the Octopus and Jedi Mace Windu.

-- Denise Martin

Samuel L. Jackson just delivered the best line of the day at Comic-Con:

"Aw c'mon, toilets are always funny!"

That was the payoff line in the wild fight scene from "The Spirit," which for a few minutes at least, appears to meld the physics of Wile E. Coyote with the vivid noir of "Sin City."

The fight scene is in a junk-strewn mud flat between Jackson's character, the villain called The Octopus, and the title hero, portrayed by newcomer Gabriel Macht.

They whack each other with cinder blocks, then a crow bar and then the hero takes a savage blow to the crotch from a giant spanner wrench. Then, in a scene that looks better than it sounds, the Octopus slams a toilet down over the hero's head, pinning his arms to his side.

The movie, by the way, is not based on a true story.   

The Christmas Day release will be watched closely by comic-book purists because it adapts the most beloved and enduring character of the late Will Eisner, an anointed figure in comics (he is so revered as the "grandfather of the graphic novel" that the industry awards are called the Eisners).

His Spirit is coming to the screen in the solo directorial debut of Frank Miller, the graphic novelist behind "Sin City," "300" and "The Dark Knight Returns." The problem might be the Spirit losing his comic and sentimental edges in the gritty hyper-reality that has marked Miller's work when it reaches the screen. (He was co-director of "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez.)

I was the panel's moderator and, looking out over 6,800 fans, I realized how nerve-wracking it is to be on that stage. Miller brought three clips plus a trailer, which is a LOT (that's why there were no questions from the audience) and the reason was Miller and his people wanted to show that the movie included romance and comedy (like the classic Eisner newspaper inserts and comics). 

Jackson stole the show on the panel, which also included Miller, producer Deborah Del Prete, Macht and starlet Jaime King (Lorelei). He talked about his favorite action figure of himself during his long career in genre films (he loves Mace Windu figures and wonders why he didn't get an action figure of "Jurassic Park" when almost every else in the cast did) and commented on his upcoming portrayal of Nick Fury, originally a white character in the comics, by saying that America gives anyone the chance to "become a black man."

-- Geoff Boucher

Related:
The hair club for Sam (slideshow)

Photos: Top, Samuel L. Jackson hugs "The Spirit" writer/director Frank Miller before the start of the panel with producer Deborah Del Prete and stars Gabriel Macht and Jaime King, who gathered to show an exclusive preview of the new film based on the classic comic by Will Eisner at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 25, 2008. Right, "The Spirit" panel moderated by Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher, left. Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times.

UPDATE: An early version of this post had the name of Robert Rodriguez spelled wrong. Sorry for the mistake, that's what can happen when you write a post on your Blackberry backstage!

I'm going to moderate the panel on "The Spirit" film down at the International Comic-Con Friday (July 25), and I'd like to open up the Hero Complex comments board to any fans who want to post some suggested questions.

There's a lot of excitement about the panel and I know firsthand that there are some surprises planned by Frank Miller, who makes his solo directorial debut with the film, and his close partner in the project, producer Deborah Del Prete.

The hour-long panel begins at 2:45 p.m. at Hall H. In addition to Miller and Del Prete, attendees at this point include cast members Samuel L. Jackson (who portrays the Octopus), Gabriel Macht (Denny Colt/the Spirit) and Jaime King (Lorelei Rox).

(No, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes are NOT part of the panel, due to scheduling issues. It's just as well, really, I would have a hard time putting coherent sentences together if those two and King were all sitting next to me.)

I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and visited with Miller and Del Prete and sat in while they worked on the visual effects post-production process, and the movie, much like urban fever-dream of  "Sin City," has a striking, hyper-reality to it. That's going to make a lot of fans of "Sin City" (which Miller co-directed, of course, adapting his own comics work) happy, but he already knows that fans who adored the late Will Eisner and his grand, often sentimental work on "The Spirit" are already sharpening their knives. "I'm prepared," Miller told me, "and I'm making the right movie, I know that."

-- Geoff Boucher

You can read the Sunday Calendar cover story I wrote about Miller last year after the jump.

photo of Samuel L. Jackson as Octopus via Lionsgate