Critically and
commercially acclaimed actor Samuel L. Jackson
recently said that he wasn’t fond of rappers using their celebrity to become
actors. Jackson said that he will not even look at a script that would give
a rapper a starring role.
"It’s not
my job to lend credibility to so-and-so rapper who’s just coming into the business,"
Jackson told the Sacramento Bee. "To take people from the music world and
give them the same kind of credibility and weight that you give me, Morgan Freeman,
Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker — that’s like an aberration to me,"
Jackson said.
Jackson starred
in "Shaft," which gave Busta Rhymes a very prominent role. He will
also star in the upcoming movie "XXX," which features Eve. While he
says that he will not star along side rappers anymore, he did praise Will Smith,
who has starred in various feature films.
"I know there’s
some young actor sitting in New York or L.A. who’s spent half of his life learning
how to act and sacrificing to learn his craft but isn’t going to get his opportunity
… because of some actor who’s been created," he said.
"XXX"
opens August 9th nationwide and a sequel is already in the works for Christmas
of 2004.