Household name Samuel L. Jackson has some pretty great memories of Star Wars.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, the actor spoke warmly of when he first saw A New Hope (the first installment of the Original Trilogy) and made clear how fascinated he was by its abundance of intriguing features.
Speaking on the “intergalactic bar” from the movie, for example, Jackson expressed amazement when recalling how the scene contained “people hanging out, big things, little things, furry things, one-eyed things, five-eyed things.” He knew almost immediately that he wanted to eventually play a role in a Star Wars film.
Some years later he was contacted by Lucasfilm and wound up meeting with George Lucas. The director inquired as to what part the actor wanted to play in the legendary franchise. Ecstatic at the very proposition of being a part of these iconic movies he loved, Jackson replied, “I don’t care, man, I could be a storm trooper,” joking that he simply wanted to, “just run across screen and say I was in Star Wars.”
Lucas had bigger plans, however, and Jackson found out just what they were when he walked into a dressing room in London only to discover from the garments around him that he would be playing the part of a Jedi. “I was like, oh my god, this is crazy!” the legendary actor recalled.
Elsewhere in the interview, he looked back on his role as Mace Windu fondly and even spoke about choosing the iconic purple lightsaber in an effort to define himself and his character in the series. Of course, as fans will know, the actor was featured in three installments of the galactic saga until he eventually met his demise in Revenge of the Sith. Nevertheless, Samuel L. Jackson’s fanboy love of Star Wars still shows.
