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Everybody needs good neighbours…
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Samuel L Jackson, star of this month’s gripping Lakeview Terrace, isn’t ashamed to admit he’ll decide to do a film based merely on an idea or title – as was the case with both Snakes on a Plane and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace…
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Jackson agreed to play a Jedi Knight in the The Phantom Menace before even reading a finished script. All he needed to know was that it was George Lucas directing and that he’d get to wield a lightsaber!
Meanwhile, as for how he got involved in Snakes on a Plane, Jackson says, “The honest to good truth is – and people say, ‘Samuel L Jackson took this job without ever reading the script, he just saw the title,’ and that’s sort of true – I saw in the trades that Ronny Yu was about to do a movie called Snakes on a Plane. Ronny Yu and I did the film Formula 51 together and we’re good friends, so I emailed him, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘It’s my horror film for New Line.’ I said, ‘Can I be in it?’ He said, ‘Are you serious? Snakes on a Plane?!’ I said, ‘Yup. If it’s snakes loose on an airplane, I wanna be in it!’
It was a similar deal with Lakeview Terrace, says the acclaimed actor.
Jackson got wind of who was directing (Neil LaBute, director of In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty), and what the premise was (racist cop terrorises innocent couple next door), and immediately let the powers-that-be know that he wanted in on it.
“I thought it was such a compelling story,” says Jackson, who plays a racist African American cop who attempts to drive the interracially married couple next door out of the neighbourhood. “It’s about an interesting kind of personality clash, with a twist in terms of who might be called the racist in the film. I just happen to be playing someone who everybody normally thinks of as a person from a dominant culture. It’s universal in the way it plays out.”
Jackson knew LaBute’s background as a playwright would be instrumental in developing the script and the characters. “Neil had a very interesting take. He also allowed us to come up with things that worked and fit into the story. He let us do the things we needed to do to bring a sense of reality and honesty.”
Originally, says Jackson, his character Abel Turner was going to just be an out-and-out bully, until it was suggested that audiences should probably have the opportunity to make their own mind up about the guy. “Do you want to be on this guy’s side or do you want to be on that guy’s side?” says Jackson. “Those are things that we kind of refined so that Abel did have a raison d’etre of some sort that made sense to people watching it.”
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#1 Whip It |
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Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a classic coming-of-age story... on roller skates. No, it's not back to Xanadu, but into the high-impact world of girls' roller derby, where Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) finds herself transformed into Babe Ruthless. |
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#1 Whip It |
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Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a classic coming-of-age story... on roller skates. No, it's not back to Xanadu, but into the high-impact world of girls' roller derby, where Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) finds herself transformed into Babe Ruthless. |
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#1 Rogue Warrior |
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Rogue Warrior’s Dick is harder than a coffin nail. We know this statement to be true because we’ve played it, a shooter based upon the exploits of Mr Richard ‘Dick’ Marcinko – a real life, ex-Navy SEAL legend. |
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