Samuel L Jackson doesn't want to be a director

31 December 2017

Samuel L Jackson doesn't want to direct movies because they take up too much time.

Samuel L Jackson

The prolific actor has made over 175 movies but admits that he currently has no desire to step behind the camera because directing is such a laborious process.

He explained to Vulture: "I'm still not bitten by the directing bug. What's keeping me from directing is the fact that directing takes up almost a year of your life, and when you direct a movie you've got to cut it and then you've got to be dealing with the music and then you've got to run around the world talking about it -- and [as an actor] I could do four movies in that time."

However, Samuel said that teaching a recent acting module for the video-lecture series MasterClass has shown him that he has the patience to be a director.

He explained: "I think I learned that I wouldn't be as difficult an individual as a director as I thought I would be. Workshopping the scenes with the acting students, I actually had fun doing it, and I don't like to blast actors, but I think the fact that I was able to do it but not abrasively was surprising to me. I didn't get upset with them because they didn't get every damn word I wanted them to do. I was sort of surprised at myself that I didn't snap at people. So I think I could do it!"

Meanwhile, although he is a frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator, Samuel has no idea if he will be in the director's upcoming movies.

He said: "I never take anything for granted in the movie business! You can't assume that you're going to be in something just because you've been in all the rest of them. I can't make that assumption. I'm not in 'Death Proof'!"