Samuel L. Jackson responds to Quentin Tarantino’s claim that Marvel actors aren’t real “movie stars”

Samuel L. Jackson has pushed back against Quentin Tarantino’s claim that Marvel actors are “not movie stars”.

The actor, who plays Nick Fury in the MCU and has frequently collaborated with Tarantino in the past, addressed the director’s recent comments on Tuesday’s (November 29) episode of The View (via Entertainment Weekly).

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“It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?” Jackson said. “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.”

In his original comments, which aired on comedian Tom Segura’s podcast, Tarantino said there are “no real movie stars” in Hollywood anymore, suggesting that superhero characters were more famous than the actors portraying them.

“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said. “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.”

He added: “I think that’s been said a zillion times, you know, but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”

The director, who is currently promoting his new book Cinema Speculation, recently asserted the modern movie era is one of “the worst in Hollywood history”.

Tarantino said: “Even though the ‘80s was the time that I probably saw more movies in my life than ever – at least as far as going out to the movies was concerned – I do feel that ‘80s cinema is, along with the ‘50s, the worst era in Hollywood history. Matched only by now, matched only by the current era!”