Samuel L. Jackson has taken issue with Quentin Tarantino's recent comments on Marvel actors not being "movie stars." Jackson, who has worked with Tarantino and Marvel on many occasions, spoke about the criticism during an interview on The View.
Tarantino argued that the characters being portrayed are the stars of the films, rather than the actors playing them.
"It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats?" Jackson said, before asking, "What are we talking about?"
"That's not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can't refute that, and he's a movie star," Jackson further added.
Tarantino had originally spoken about Marvel films on a recent episode of the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast.
"You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters," the legendary director said firstly. "But they're not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I'm not the first person to say that. I think that's been said a zillion times… but it's like, you know, it's these franchise characters that become a star."
Tarantino and Jackson have collaborated on numerous films together over the years. Jackson appeared in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Django Unchained, as well as more of Tarantino's movies. As for Marvel, Jackson has made several appearances as Nick Fury in MCU films over the years.
Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu also hit back at Tarantino, as well as Martin Scorsese, for the sentiment. Scorsese has made similar remarks as well.
"If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie," he tweeted afterward.
Check out Jackson's response to Tarantino below.
[Via]