44 AMERICANWAY
DECEMBER 1 2008
Nevertheless, you’re sitting across a boardroom table from Jack-
son,wagingwar against the involuntary reflexes that are imploring
you to blink after 83 seconds of gazing deeply, competitively into
his eyes. Call yourself a fool. After all, itwas youwho suggested the
staring contest against this Oscar-nominatedmanwho, according
to graphic-novelmaestroFrankMiller, writer and director of such
films as
Sin City
and
The Spirit
(Jackson’s latest),
“can scare thehell out of anybody.”
“Whenyoudon’tblink, youpossess thegreater in-
tensity,” Jackson purrs with a velvet cool that belies
his feral command. “You can intimidatepeople. You
can letpeopleknowyou’rereally into them, thatpas-
sion thing. You can conveya terror sogreat that they
cannot lookaway.Youcommunicateeverythingwith
your eyes.”
Then, leaning the slightest bit forward across
the table, he adds, “I’m really good at not blinking.
Sowhat are we doing here, anyway?How good are
you
?”
It’s this endearing formidableness— theexquisite
combination of playfulness and menace, the colli-
sion of gamesmanship and soulfulness — that has
made Jackson an audience favorite since his break-
outperformance inSpikeLee’s
JungleFever
andone
of themost respected, not tomentionprolific, actors
of his generation. If you do happen to blink, you’re
still unlikely tomiss Jackson on the big screen; he’s
appeared inmore than 50 films since 1991’s
Jungle
Fever
and has four slated for release in the next 12
months, including
The Spirit
. According to
Guin-
ness World Records
, he’s
the highest-grossing actor
of all time.
“Sam is so alluring yet so laid-back. He’s mag-
netic. You
want
to be around him. Youwant to see
what he’ll do next. You want to share the same air
with that man,” says ChristinaRicci, who costarred
with Jackson in the swampy, sensual drama
Black
Snake Moan
. “Everything Sam does, it’s so cool. It
makes youa little cooler, beingaroundhim. It prob-
ablymakes you a little cooler just
watching
him in
themovies.”
Gabriel Macht, who portrays the titular hero in
The Spirit
, the big-screen adaptation of Will Eis-
ner’s legendary comic book of the same name, says
Jackson effortlessly portrays “menacing, deadly, and
fierce”but that itallcomes fromhavingachild’ssense
ofwonder. “He is so free and spontaneous.
[
Hewas
]
always making choices that were outrageous — yet
perfect for the film,” Macht says. “He is trying new
things all the time and is not afraid of being vulner-
able. I strive tobeas freea spirit ashe is.”
The 59-year-old Jackson, who once practiced the
“don’t blink” trick every day as an acting exercise (and later used it
to chilling effect inM. Night Shyamalan’s
Unbreakable
), believes
the key to his success rests in the unadulterated joy he finds in the
work. “For me, acting is a huge extension of being a kid. I spent
my childhoodplayingwar, and cowboys and Indians, and cops and
robbers; jumpingoutof trees; rollingdownhills;playinghide-and-
goesmano amano
withSamuelL. Jackson.This is, afterall, themanwitha
twitchy triggerfinger, apropensity for rousinglyquoting
scripture, apreternatural talent for serpentwrangling, a
lightning-quick purple light saber, and themost formi-
dableno-nonsense visage sinceJohnWayne.
OnlyafOOl
Samuel L. Jackson in
TheSpirit
