I met [ Samuel L. Jackson ] for the first time on The Today Show. He came out of an elevator. I was promoting A Mighty Wind and he was promoting something else. He said, "I hear we're going to be working together." I said, "On what?" He said, 'The Man.' I hadn't heard his name mentioned before. I made a few calls and found out he had the script and was interested. That was it.

We need to change America's image round the world. America has lost some lustre in terms of how folks aspire to be like us.

Long Kiss Goodnight has a huge cult following. They could make another version of that movie right now and make a lot of money.

I said to George Lucas, "I'd like a purple lightsaber." And he said, "Why?" and I said, "I just want to be able to find myself. I'm the most powerful Jedi in the universe, and I think it would be an interesting thing for me to have a different color lightsaber than anybody else."

Not everybody goes to movies to get their life changed.

What I remember from [the first meeting with Samuel L. Jackson] was that he was a friendly, animated kind of guy. His screen image is a hard boiled intimidating kind of character. That's what I remembered thinking, 'Boy, this guy seems like a normal guy.'

Sam [L.Jackson] never asks for another take because he knows what he's doing. He gives you what he thinks is the best take, and he does it on the first take.