Samuel L. Jackson

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• Born: 21 December 1948
• Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
• Best Known As: The Bible-quoting hit man from Pulp Fiction

After 20 years in Hollywood and dozens of movies, Samuel L. Jackson became an international star for his portrayal of Jules, the righteous, afro-clad hit-man in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Alternately amusing and menacing on screen, Jackson is one of the busiest actors in the movies, a character actor who can also play the lead and carry a movie. In the 1990s he appeared in fifty movies, including turns in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991, with Wesley Snipes); Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993); Eve's Bayou (1997, he also produced it); and Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997, with Robert DeNiro). Since then he's stayed busy in films, notably as Jedi warrior Mace Windu in the George Lucas Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005). His other films include M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable (2000, with Bruce Willis), Changing Lanes (2002, with Ben Affleck), xXx (2002, starring Vin Diesel), The Incredibles (2004, voice) and Coach Carter (2005, with Ashanti). In 2006 his all-out, multimedia promotional blitz for the action feature Snakes On A Plane became a newsworthy event in itself.

Jackson appears, uncredited, at the end of the 1998 movie Out of Sight (directed by Steven Soderbergh).

actor

Personal Information

Born December 21, 1948, in Chattanooga, TN. Married LaTanya Richardson, an actress, c. 1981; daughter, Zoe.
Education: Received Dramatic Arts degree from Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, 1972.

Career

Co-founded Just Us theater company and member of Negro Ensemble Company, Atlanta, c. 1970s; appeared in New York stage productions, including A Soldier's Play, 1981; The Piano Lesson, 1987; Sally/Prince, 1989; The District Line, 1990; Two Trains Running, 1990; and Home. Appeared in Seattle Repertory production of Fences; appeared in Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles production of Distant Fires, 1993. Made film debut in Together for Days; appeared in numerous films, including Ragtime, 1981; Raw, 1987; School Daze, 1988; Sea of Love, 1989; Do the Right Thing, 1989; Mo' Better Blues, 1990; Def by Temptation, 1990; Goodfellas, 1991; Jungle Fever, 1991; Jumpin' at the Boneyard, 1992; White Sands, 1992; Patriot Games, 1992; True Romance, 1993; Menace II Society, 1993; National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I, 1993; Amos & Andrew, 1993; Jurassic Park, 1993; Against the Wall, 1994; Assault at West Point:The Court Martial of Johnson Whittaker, 1994; Fresh, 1994; and Pulp Fiction, 1994; Kiss of Death, 1995; Die Hard: With A Vengeance, 1995; Losing Isaiah, 1995; A Time To Kill, 1996; The Long Kiss Goodnight, 1997; Eve's Bayou, 1997; 187, 1997; Jackie Brown, 1997; Sphere, 1998; The Negotiator, 1998; The Red Violin, 1998; Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, 1999; Deep Blue Sea, 1999; Shaft, 2000; Rules of Engagement, 2000; Any Given Wednesday, 2000; Unbreakable, 2000; Changing Lanes, 2001; The 51st State, 2001; The Caveman's Valentine, 2001; xXx, 2002; Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, 2002; Changing Lanes, 2002; S.W.A.T., 2003; The Incredibles, 2004; Twisted, 2004; In My Country, 2004; Coach Carter, 2005; xXx: State of the Union, 2005; Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, 2005; The Man, 2005.

Life's Work

"I never get tired of acting because I have a passion for it," Samuel Jackson declared to Paul B. Cohen of the L.A. Village View. "Every time I have an opportunity to do it, I will do it." Despite occasional encounters with the implicit racist attitude of Hollywood, he has managed to get cast "color-blind" more often than many of his black colleagues. His versatility and professionalism have been Jackson's keys to survival. As Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games, told the New York Times, "Sam has a remarkable connection with the cinema audience."

Likewise, Jackson is much beloved by those who enjoy live drama. Unlike film work--which tends to offer little immediate reward for the actor--Jackson has acknowledged to Cohen that "theater is such a healthy exchange of energy between the audience and the actors." He added that he can sense audience members "sitting forward, sighing, or getting carried along with the momentum of what we're doing, so it's very invigorating."

Jackson spent years reinvesting that energy in role after role, until finally erupting into widespread public notice in the late 1980s. Before then, his lengthy resume of film appearances consisted mostly of low-profile character parts until his award-winning performance in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever moved him to the top of casting directors' lists. He went on to appear in increasingly varied features with two goals in mind--stretching his range and returning to stage, the arena in which he got his start.

Jackson grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his mother, grandparents, and his aunt, who was a schoolteacher. His urge to perform emerged while he was still quite young. "As a kid I loved Treasure Island," he informed Jean Oppenheimer of the L.A. Village View. "My favorite pirate movie was The Crimson Pirate with Burt Lancaster. When I was a kid we played pirates in our neighborhood, not sissy stuff like Captain Hook but serious pirates." He also participated in rowdy neighborhood recreations of favorite westerns, substituting bicycles for the horses. When he was not pretending to be a high sea rogue, he acted in his aunt's school plays. However, he did not seriously participate in the theater world until he was in college.

Jackson attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, but in order to major in theater he had to take all his theater classes at the college's sister school, Spelman. There he met LaTanya Richardson, an actress whom he would later marry; there too, he made his adult performance debut in the darkly satirical Weill-Brecht classic, The Three Penny Opera, making up for his lack of singing acumen with his acting skills. Meanwhile, offstage was becoming radicalized by the burgeoning black liberation movement of the early 1970s. Student anger at the lack of African American studies and the institution's control by a white governing body caused him to participate in an action that involved locking a few Morehouse trustees--including Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.--in a room until the insurgents' demands were met. For having had a hand in things, Jackson and some of his comrades, were suspended but later reinstated.

Focusing on what would soon become his career, Jackson helped start the Just Us theater company in Atlanta, but he and Richardson ultimately left for New York City in 1976. "All I know is, we pulled into [Greenwich] Village at night, and everyone on the street looked really bizarre," Jackson told Michael Angeli of the New York Times. "We were going to live with some friends on Barrow Street. What we didn't realize was that it was Halloween, and we were in the middle of a parade." Though he did not begin his own parade of acting roles until some years later, he did start working in the theater almost immediately.

For the next several years, Jackson appeared in various plays. Film work was sometimes offered, as when he appeared in 1981's Ragtime, but it was when he was appearing onstage in A Soldier's Play the same year that he began making real connections. He first met fellow African American actor Morgan Freeman, who greatly encouraged him, then a young film student named Spike Lee. Lee came backstage to introduce himself. Jackson recollected to the New York Times. "He told me he was a Morehouse alumnus, that he was at NYU [New York University] film school, da-da-da. He was going to, um, be a filmmaker. He said when he started to make films, he would love for me to be in his movies. It was, like, I had my dream, and he had his--a surplus of reality there, you know what I mean?"

Lee's dream came true, and Jackson appeared in several of the writer/director's films, including School Daze in 1988, and the following year's Do the Right Thing. Jackson observed that Lee's tendency to use the same actors in different films lent an esprit de corps to the productions. "Bill Nunn, Giancarlo [Esposito]--we knew each other from Morehouse, where we did plays together. There's something to be said for the ensemble feeling, for getting to know other actors and having a feeling for working with them," Jackson explained to Angeli. "And doing Spike's films, that was the one thing we all had to look forward to every year--knowing we were going to get together again. Same crew, same actors," he continued. Jackson also landed character roles in features by other directors; in the late 1980s to early 1990s, Jackson worked in The Exorcist III, Coming to America, Sea of Love and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. But Lee was the creative force behind the film that made Jackson's reputation, Jungle Fever.

In that 1991 production, Jackson played Gator, the crack-addicted brother of Flipper Purify, played by Wesley Snipes. This character hit home because Jackson himself was a recovering crack addict. He brought an explosive charisma and unpredictability to the portrayal; Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called him "a blistering actor in an unforgettable role." When the film debuted at the Cannes film festival, the judges named Jackson the best supporting actor. The award was a double honor because the Cannes judging had never before extended to that category, but Jackson's performance left an indelible mark on those who would rate him. Besides winning at that prestigious affair, he also received a New York Film Critics award. Jackson even won over the toughest critic of all--himself. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction accorded by the showing was that for once, as he told Lena Williams of the New York Times, "I don't want to go back and fix it."

A few months after Jungle Fever's release, Jackson was surprised to find that his increased visibility and all the acclaim made some filmmakers think he was unavailable except at high salaries. He emphasized to Williams that he was "not out of anyone's range yet." Nonetheless, he proceeded to take small roles in such offbeat films as Juice and True Romance, among others. When Jackson was sent the script for the thriller White Sands, he assumed he was being considered for the part of the villain--a role eventually bagged by Mickey Rourke.

"Then they call me back and say no, you're Meeker, the FBI agent. What? I had to go back and read it again," Jackson admitted to Premiere's Veronica Chambers. "And I like the guy [Meeker] a lot. He's not obviously bad or obviously good. It was a stretch from Gator to that character. And I really would like to display the fact that I have that range." The film's director, Roger Donaldson, praised Jackson to Chambers, saying "He's got enormous resources as an actor. He's extremely talented technically. Sam can do something one take, then go back and build on it. He's spontaneous, but he's well trained.... And he's a nice guy."

Hollywood did not need to be heavily persuaded about Jackson's willingness to take on different genres. He shared above-the-title billing in two broad comedies, Amos & Andrew and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I. Unfortunately, critics trashed both 1993 films. Entertainment Weekly's review of the Amos & Andrew, for example, consisted largely of career advice for the actor. Their reviewer wondered, "did Samuel L. Jackson really have to follow up his mesmerizing, out-on-the-edge performance as a homeless crack addict [in Jungle Fever] with National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I and the imbecilic mistaken-identity farce Amos & Andrew?" The unequivocal pan concluded by urging the actor to "call your agent--and fire him."

Despite such misfires, Jackson continued working regularly in the 1990s, appearing as a technician in the box-office hit Jurassic Park--also one of the top-selling movies of all time--as one of Harrison Ford's allies in Patriot Games, and in an ensemble role in Menace II Society. Patriot Games director Noyce told the New York Times that Jackson, despite having his performance severely edited, "made so much out of so little that the audience imagined he had a greater participation than he actually did."

In 1994, Jackson was cast as a killer in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, an ultraviolent thriller boasting what Jackson described to Cohen as "one of the best scripts I've read in a couple of years." The plumb role contained "four to five page [long] speeches ... and that's something you don't normally do in a film," though he had done so on stage. Jackson had earlier appeared in such prestigious New York productions as August Wilson's two acclaimed pieces, The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running. His appreciation for the dialogues Wilson had written was obvious. Speaking to Cohen, Jackson reflected, "August writes three-hour plays, and when I was doing Piano Lesson--I was the original [protagonist] Boy Willie before [actor] Charles Dutton did it--that character talks for about two hours and ten minutes in a three-hour play...."

Despite the plethora of motion picture work he obtained in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson pined to appear onstage again. Once he did, he was pleasantly surprised to find a new environment in regards to many playwrights. In a New York Times interview, Jackson observed that "the black acting community is relatively small. Especially in New York theater. The funny thing is that when they used to cast black roles, everybody from age 20 to 50 was called because they had no idea what kind of black person they wanted for the role. That kind of let you know that they sort of didn't have a clue as to who these people are."

Though Jackson assumed he would have to maintain himself in New York City for theatrical roles, he was pleasantly surprised at the opportunity to be in the 1993 working-class play Distant Fires in Los Angeles. "Everybody's very concerned about the production as a whole and not about their own performances," he enthused to Cohen. He similarly told Premiere's Chambers "I always want to get back to theater to make sure that I'm still an actor. You have to convince people who are actually sitting there looking at you that you're doing what you're doing, without all the trappings of reality around you."

Jackson's time on stage was short-lived because Hollywood continued to beckon. Since Jungle Fever, he has been in over 30 films. Jackson teamed up with fellow Pulp Fiction star Bruce Willis in Die Hard: With A Vengeance, the third installment of the Die Hard films. He also portrayed Carl Lee Hailey, the father who murdered two white rednecks who brutally raped his daughter in A Time To Kill, a film based on the bestseller by John Grisham.

Jackson has also appeared in Fresh, Losing Isaiah with Jessica Lange and Halle Berry, The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis, The Great White Hype, a satire on the boxing industry--he portrayed a character like boxing promoter Don King--and U.S. Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes. He also took part in Sphere, a thriller, with Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone. He told Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly, "The closer together your jobs are, the greater the [producers] think your ability is."

Jackson teamed up again with Quentin Tarantino in Jackie Brown, an adaptation of author Elmore Leonard's book, Rum Punch, and starring Foxy Brown star, Pam Grier--a favorite of Tarantino--Robert DeNiro, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton. This film opened to mixed reviews but Jackson shined in them all. Though not as violent as other Tarantino flicks, Jackie Brown was still offensive to some, especially concerning the use of the N-word in the film. Director Spike Lee took offense, even accusing Tarantino of wanting to be black. Jackson came to Tarantino's defense, quoted in Jet as saying, "Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. This film is a wonderful homage to Black exploitation films (of the 1970s). This is a good film. And Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years."

Jackson also starred and co-produced Eve's Bayou. Though he hoped the producer title was just ceremonial, it turned out to be real. He told Joe Leydon of MSNBC that once on location, he found that he was "the only producer who's really on the set. So, things start to happen. And you have goals every day." The independent film won raves from critics and Jackson is set to produce another film.

Jackson has completed his part in the first installment of the Star Wars prequels. He plays a Jedi Knight. Jackson will also utter that famous line, "May the force be with you." Since this is a prequel to the already released Star Wars saga, he is actually the first person to ever say the line. He also appeared in The Negotiator, The Red Violin, and a small-barely noticeable part in Out Of Sight. To sum up his busy year, Jackson was quoted in MSNBC as saying, "All I can say is, it's been an interesting kind of year for me. I look up one day, and I'm standing across from Dustin Hoffman, and I go 'Wow!' And I look up another day, and I'm next to Robert DeNiro. And last week--I died and went to heaven. I looked up, and there was Yoda."

On tap for 2002, Jackson worked on Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones, and a drama with John Travolta, called Basic. Two crime thrillers in the works for the early 2000s included No Good Deed with Milla Jovovich, and XXX--which takes place against the backdrop of the Xtreme sports culture. Trappings notwithstanding, Jackson admitted to L.A. Village View writer Jean Oppenheimer that he still wants to play a pirate, as well as a gunslinger, as he had done in his neighborhood as a child. Yet he has never lost sight of the practical necessities of his career. Indeed, Samuel Jackson seems, with each new performance, to guarantee a versatility and commitment that never go out of style.

In August of 2003 Jackson's film, S.W.A.T., was released and quickly became a number-one box office hit. It was based on a 1970s television series of the same name. In September an advertising campaign by the American Civil Liberties Union stood in opposition to United States President George W. Bush's expansion of law enforcement powers. Celebrities appearing in the campaign included actors Jackson, Richard Dreyfuss, Al Pacino, Martin Sheen and Kristin Davis; author Kurt Vonnegut; and Michael Stipe, the lead singer of musical group REM.

In February of 2004 Jackson appeared in Twisted. In November he starred as the voice of Lucius Best in The Incredibles, which was released by Walt Disney Pictures. The movie, directed by Brad Bird and about middle-aged, retired superheroes who have to jump back into action when a psychotic man tries to take over the world, was a huge success. In March Jackson starred in In My Country, which was released by Sony Pictures Classics. The film was an adaptation of the story from Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog.

In 2005 Jackson was seen in no less than four films. January of 2005 saw Jackson starring in Coach Carter, which was released by Paramount Pictures. According to People, "The ever reliable Jackson gives a strong, forceful performance." In May Jackson reprised his role of Jedi master Mace Windu for the last installment of the Star Wars Prequels: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Then in September Jackson starred in The Man with Eugene Levy, which was released by New Line Cinema. He was next seen in XXX: State of the Union. In October Jackson bought a condo in New York City with his wife, LaTanya Richardson.

Awards

Best Supporting Actor award at Cannes Film Festival and New York Film Critics award for Jungle Fever, 1991; Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor, nominated for Pulp Fiction, 1995; BAFTA (British Academy) Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Pulp Fiction, 1995; Independent Spirit Awards, 1995, 1998; Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, for A Time to Kill, 1997; Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor for Jackie Brown, Berlin International Film Festival, 1998; Black Film Award, Acapulco Black Film Festival, 1998; Career Achievement Award, Acapulco Black Film Festival, 1999; Man of the Year, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, 1999; Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2000; nominated for Best Actor in a Film, 1st Annual Black Entertainment Television Awards, 2001.

Further Reading

• Entertainment Weekly, March 5, 1993, p. 42; February 18, 1994, pp. 102-3; November 25, 1994; March 5, 2004, p. 48; May 13, 2005, p. 64; September 23, 2005, p. 67.
• Essence, April 1992, p. 48.
• Interview, April 1992, p. 50.
• Jet, March 9, 1998, p. 36; August 18, 2003, p. 60; January 17, 2005, p. 54; October 24, 2005, p. 48.
• L.A. Village View, February 12, 1993, 11; December 3, 1993.
• New York Times, June 9, 1991; February 7, 1993, section 2, 13-14.
• People, January 24, 2005, p. 31; March 28, 2005, p. 30; September 19, 2005, p. 37.
• Premiere, May 1992, p. 57.
• Rolling Stone, June 27, 1991, 75-6.
• Launch, launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=214351 (August 14, 2003).
• New York Times, www.nytimes.com, September 21, 2003.
• New York Times, movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=282834, March 9, 2004.
• New York Times, movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=287450, November 12, 2004.
• New York Times, movies2.nytimes.com, January 21, 2005.
• New York Times, http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=299150, April 1, 2005.
• New York Times, http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=306977, September 19, 2005.
• Other Information also obtained online at www.msnbc.com, The Samuel L. Jackson Home Page at http://member.aol.com/gifhack, www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesArtistE2K/jackson--samuel.html, and www.imdb.com.

— Simon Glickman and Ashyia N. Henderson

Quotes:

"What kills me is that everybody thinks I like jazz."

• Born: Dec 21, 1948 in Washington, D.C.
• Occupation: Actor
• Active: '90s-2000s
• Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
• Career Highlights: Jackie Brown, Hard Eight, Fresh
• First Major Screen Credit: Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992)

Biography

After spending the 1980s playing a series of drug addict and character parts, Samuel L. Jackson emerged in the 1990s as one of the most prominent and well-respected actors in Hollywood. Work on a number of projects, both high-profile and low-key, has given Jackson ample opportunity to display an ability marked by both remarkable versatility and smooth intelligence.

Born December 21, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised by his mother and grandparents in Chattanooga, TN. He attended Atlanta's Morehouse College, where he was co-founder of Atlanta's black-oriented Just Us Theater (the name of the company was taken from a famous Richard Pryor routine). Jackson arrived in New York in 1977, beginning what was to be a prolific career in film, television, and on the stage. After a plethora of character roles of varying sizes, Jackson was discovered by the public in the role of the hero's tempestuous, drug-addict brother in 1991's Jungle Fever, directed by another Morehouse College alumnus, Spike Lee. Jungle Fever won Jackson a special acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival and thereafter his career soared. Confronted with sudden celebrity, Jackson stayed grounded by continuing to live in the Harlem brownstone where he'd resided since his stage days.

1994 was a particularly felicitous year for Jackson; while his appearances in Jurassic Park (1993) and Menace II Society (1993) were still being seen in second-run houses, he co-starred with John Travolta as a mercurial hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of an embittered father in the more low-key Fresh earned him additional acclaim. The following year, Jackson landed third billing in the big-budget Die Hard With a Vengeance and also starred in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah. His versatility was put on further display in 1996 with the release of five very different films: The Long Kiss Goodnight, a thriller in which he co-starred with Geena Davis as a private detective; an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, which featured him as an enraged father driven to murder; Steve Buscemi's independent Trees Lounge; The Great White Hype, a boxing satire in which the actor played a flamboyant boxing promoter; and Hard Eight, the directorial debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.

After the relative quiet of 1997, which saw Jackson again collaborate with Tarantino in the critically acclaimed Jackie Brown and play a philandering father in the similarly acclaimed Eve's Bayou (which also marked his debut as a producer), the actor lent his talents to a string of big-budget affairs (an exception being the 1998 Canadian film The Red Violin). Aside from an unbilled cameo in Out of Sight (1998), Jackson was featured in leading roles in The Negotiator (1998), Sphere (1998), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). His prominence in these films added confirmation of his complete transition from secondary actor to leading man, something that was further cemented by a coveted role in what was perhaps the most anticipated film of the decade, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), the first prequel to George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy. Jackson followed through on his leading man potential with a popular remake of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 blaxploitation flick Shaft. Despite highly publicized squabbling between Jackson and director John Singleton, the film was a successful blend of homage, irony, and action; it became one of the rare character-driven hits in the special effects-laden summer of 2000.

From hard-case Shaft to fragile as glass, Jackson once again hoodwinked audiences by playing against his usual super-bad persona in director M. Night Shyamalan's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000). In his role as Bruce Willis' brittle, frail antithesis, Jackson proved that though he can talk trash and break heads with the best of them, he's always compelling to watch no matter what the role may be. Next taking a rare lead as a formerly successful pianist turned schizophrenic on the trail of a killer in the little-seen The Caveman's Valentine, Jackson turned in yet another compelling and sympathetic performance. Following an instance of road rage opposite Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes (2002), Jackson stirred film geek controversy upon wielding a purple lightsaber in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Despite rumors that the color of the lightsaber may have had some sort of mythical undertone, Jackson laughingly assured fans that it was a simple matter of his suggesting to Lucas that a purple lightsaber would simply "look cool," though he was admittedly surprised to see that Lucas had obliged him Jackson eventually saw the final print. A few short months later filmgoers would find Jackson recruiting a muscle-bound Vin Diesel for a dangerous secret mission in the spy thriller XXX.

Jackson reprised his long-standing role as Mace Windu in the last segment of George Lucas's Star Wars franchise to be produced, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). It (unsurprisingly) grossed almost four hundred million dollars, and became that rare box-office blockbuster to also score favorably (if not unanimously) with critics; no less than Roger Ebert proclaimed it "spectacular." Jackson co-headlined 2005's crime comedy The Man alongside Eugene Levy and 2006's Joe Roth mystery Freedomland with Julianne Moore and Edie Falco, but his most hotly-anticipated release at the time of this writing is August 2006's Snakes on a Plane, a by-the-throat thriller about an assassin who unleashes a crate full of vipers onto a aircraft full of innocent (and understandably terrified) civilians. Produced by New Line Cinema on a somewhat low budget, the film continues to draw widespread buzz that anticipates cult status. Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) dramatizes the relationship between a small-town girl (Christina Ricci) and a blues player (Jackson). The picture is slated for release in September 2006 with Jackson's Shaft collaborator, John Singleton, producing.

According to the trades, Jackson is next contracted to appear in Irwin Winkler's drama Home of the Brave (about the Iraqi war), Rod Lurie's Resurrecting the Champ (about a homeless person, played by Jackson, who is mistaken for a former heavyweight champion), and 1408, an adaptation of a Stephen King story about a hotel room plagued by paranormal occurrences, which Jackson will co-headline with John Cusack. The aforementioned films are tentatively scheduled for release through the end of 2007. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

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