The Essential
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
JULES WINNFIELD PULP FICTION
(1994)
There are few actors so immediately distinctive from their voice alone as Samuel L. Jackson, a man who could intone the phone book with character, possibly menace, and almost certainly an expletive or two. Pulp Fiction’s wily, smart-talking assassin Jules (“Say what again, I dare you”) is so welded to the persona and image of Jackson himself that it is impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. As that wallet says, he’s one BMF.
MITCH HENNESSEY THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT
(1996)
An underrated stand-out in Jackson’s long filmography is this Renny Harlin action-crime flick, in which he stars opposite Geena Davis. He shows a more vulnerable underside here as a sarcastic private eye, forming an unlikely friendship with his client when they are thrown into violent hijinks. Sleazy but lovable, his character Mitch is the kind of quipping underdog that Jackson always makes you root for.
Alamy
ELIJAH PRICE
UNBREAKABLE
(2000)
Jackson is in full deranged villain mode in M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural thriller, showing he’s always had the range to turn his toughness into something more distinctively sinister. As Mr. Glass, confined by brittle-bone disease, he seems like an enigmatic guide to Bruce Willis’ David Dunn until the twist reveals he is in fact the ultimate nemesis. Jackson fulfills the part with a subtle viciousness that is truly chilling.
CHRISTINA
NEWLAND
SAMUEL L. JACKSON