Samuel L. Jackson Recalls How Sage Advice From Bruce Willis Came True With Marvel Role

It's hard to imagine someone as successful as Samuel L. Jackson taking advice from anyone, no matter how helpful.

Bringing to life characters in Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, and every major superhero franchise including The Incredibles, it seems like Jackson has done it all.

But while participating in an interview with Vanity Fair to celebrate Bruce Willis' 70th birthday, Jackson revealed that Willis gave him incredible advice while they were working together.

To ensure that Jackson hit it big and not just among passionate subgroups, Willis urged him to find a steady, loved character:

"He told me, 'Hopefully you'll be able to find a character that, when you make bad movies and they don't make any money, you can always go back to this character everybody loves."

"He said, 'Arnold [Schwarzenegger]'s got Terminator. Sylvester [Stallone]'s got Rocky, Rambo. I've got John McClane.'"

"I was like, 'Oh, okay...' And it didn't occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role, and I had a nine-picture deal to be Nick Fury, that, 'Oh, I'm doing what Bruce said. I've got this character now.'"

Jackson previously appeared in a subset of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he starred as Elijah Price, who had an incredibly rare but real Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type I, which eventually played a huge part in his downfall and evolution into the antagonist, Mr. Glass, opposite the hero, Bruce Willis' David Dunn.

While the trilogy developed a passionate following, Jackson's real arrival into the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in his portrayal of Nick Fury, who appeared for the first time in Iron Man in 2008, when he first presented the idea to Tony Stark, portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr., of the concept of the Avengers.

Some fans applauded Willis' sage advice.

Others took a moment to applaud Nick Fury and Jackson's talent in general.

While he's loved for countless roles, it's clear that Bruce Willis was onto something when he advised Jackson to find that character and to hold onto them. Though Nick Fury is booked for nine films, there's no question that there could be more.

Die Hard's John McClane may have been Bruce Willis' go-to example of his ride-or-die character, but he repeatedly set himself up for success with a variety of franchise and serial roles, including Die Hard, Sin City, Look Who's Talking, and the Expendables later in his career, among others.

Ironically, many of Willis' characters have preached about "walking the walk" and "putting skin in the game" when times got hard, with his character always being willing to take action. It's clear that even in real life as an actor, he was walking the walk then, too.