Samuel L. Jackson had to fight for his ‘Star Wars’ character to have a purple lightsaber.
Samuel L. Jackson had to fight for his purple lightsabre
The 73-year-old actor, who played Mace Windu in ‘Star Wars’ Episodes I, II, and III of the blockbuster franchised and explained why he wanted his character to have a purple lightsaber.
When asked how the purple lightsaber came about on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, he answered: “Ask George [Lucas]. In Episode II, there’s that huge scene in kind of like a war stadium. There’s all these Jedi out there. And when I was reading it I was like ‘how am I going to find myself in this?’ So I thought, ‘different colored lightsaber!’ So I said, ‘George, can I get a purple colored lightsaber?’ [And he said,] ‘they’re green, they're blue.’ I said, ‘what, seriously, that’s it?’ And that was the end of the conversation.”
Though the ‘Avengers’ star thought he’d lost the fight at this point, he revealed the moment when director George Lucas, 77, told Samuel he’d changed his mind.
He explained: “But then we finished shooting reshoots, I had to fly back to London, and he was like ‘I want to show you something,’ and I was like ‘what?’ So he shows me a purple lightsaber. But then he says, ‘it’s already causing a s***storm online, so I don’t know if I’m going to keep it,’ and I was like ‘really? Come on! And how do people online know anyway?’
“But sure enough, when the movie opened, he was like, ‘okay. You get to keep the purpe lightsaber.’ Because in episode one, I never even got to pull it.”
The ‘Pulp Fiction’ star also confessed that he believes Mace Windu is still alive, and would hinted that he could reprise his role in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.
Samuel revealed: “I think [Mace Windu] is alive somewhere. … There’s a huge history of people with one hand returning in ‘Star Wars.’ The only person I’ve ever said that to, about coming back, was Bryce Dallas Howard. I just did a movie with her, and she directs episodes of ‘The Mandalorian.’ So I was like, ‘do you think you might be able to hook a brother up? I mean, you like me, right?’ And she’s like ‘I love you, you’re amazing!’ So I said ‘put me back in it.’ I’ll learn to use the lightsaber left-handed!”
Tagged in Bryce Dallas Howard Samuel L. Jackson