Samuel L. Jackson tends to be cast as characters who don’t suffer fools. But when it comes to answering questions about his own life, it turns out he’s “an open fucking book.” As it did recently with the characters of Sesame Street, Wired invited Jackson to participate in its “The Web’s Most Searched Questions” segment. And during the course of the four-minute video he helpfully clears up some queries and misconceptions about his life.
For instance, Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee; he used to be a vegan but isn’t anymore; he’s not related to Michael Jackson; he’s been in almost every Quentin Tarantino film; and he’s been married for 37 years. He also expands upon the (true) story that he specifically requested a purple lightsaber in the Star Wars prequels. It turns out George Lucas was initially pretty skeptical about the whole thing and turned down Jackson’s request before trying out the purple lightsaber and deciding he liked it. Also, apparently Jackson’s Jurassic Park character was originally supposed to have a little bit more of an action sequence, but it was never filmed because the set he was supposed to work on in Hawaii was blown away by a hurricane.
Trivia aside, the real selling point of the video is Jackson himself, who seems to have a lot of fun with the premise. And he even offers a bit of helpful and timeless life advice: It’s always better to be rich than to be famous.