> [!cite]- Metadata > 2025-11-28 17:42 > Status: > Tags: `Read Time:` > Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and film producer. He is one of the most widely recognized actors of his generation. The films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed more than $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. > [!Tip] Class Guide Book > [!Note] 1. Introduction > I read incessantly. When I'm reading a book, I'm one of those characters in that book. So I'm sitting there acting the same way when I read a script. We put ourselves in those situations, and you live those situations because that's what we do. > "The truth is, you're the weak." "You like spy movies?" "Spent a third of my life in a hospital bed with nothing else to do but read." "Never use 'no' in a hostage situation." "Zeus, Yeah, Zeus as in father of Apollo, Mount Olympus." > I wanted to teach this master class so people could understand what I do and why I do it. If I could get up every day and go somewhere and act, I'd be the happiest person in the world, you know? Writers get up and write, painters get up and paint, why can't I get up and go act? Because somebody's got to hire you to do it. So when people start talking about, why did you do this kind of thing, why did you do that kind of thing. I love movies. I love movies that are dark and I love movies that are deep, and they have their purpose. But essentially, we're entertainers. We entertain people. We're supposed to distract them from their daily lives in a way that allows them to escape whatever pressure or things they have on them, and live in this moment with us for a while and experience it in a safe environment. And leave there and be energized by it and talk about it and love it. > I don't look at acting specifically as a challenge, but more of an adventure to delve into, to grasp different things about a character, to find my way in a story. I don't find that difficult. That's always like a joy and a great period of exploration and freedom. > A movie set is like one of my favorite places to be in the world. I love getting up and going to my job. Hopefully there's something to be learned, gleaned, or experienced while I'm doing it. And you know, sometimes it's just fun. I'm Samuel L. Jackson and this is my mother fuckin' masterclass. > [!Note] 2. Creating Characters > **Create a Whole Person** > If there's source material, read it, especially if it's a book. Read a book, because writers tend to give you vital info about who the character is, where he came from, what he does. Sometimes they even try and explain why he's doing it, why he's doing a particular thing. And after you've done that, reread the story again to get the story in your mind. And after you've read that, figure out how you feel about that character and why he's doing those things that he's doing inside that script. > And once you think you know why that character is doing those things, then you figure out, OK, where did they come from? Who are they? How old are they? Do they feel that way about the character because they have a brother or sister that is that way? Who are their parents? What's their educational background? Do they have a military background? Did they go to the army? Have they ever been in jail? Are they out of jail? How educated are they? Are they smart, sort of smart, very smart? It's not there. And sometimes you will never have to explain that to an audience or to the other cast members. But it's important to you as a person, because all those kinds of things determine how you feel about people, how you look at them, how you interpret their actions, what your prejudices are toward those people. In a particular way. Are they smarter than me? Do I like that? Do I not like that? Is he dumber than me? Am I going to manipulate him because of it? And it's stuff that an audience might, or they probably won't ever know. > But for you as the actor, when you're interacting with that character that you think you think you're smarter than, it interprets how you approach that character and how you accept what they say to you or what you think of it, or what you're trying to do. And all those things are dictated by what kind of person I am. And if there's no source material to tell me what kind of person I am, then it's incumbent upon me to create a human being that's inside that story that has a full life, that feels a certain way about things because this happened to him, that happened to him, this didn't happen to him. He didn't have this advantage growing up or he had this advantage. Or he had a woman who left him so he can't relate to women, because he things women are all whatever and he just cannot deal with them or he doesn't understand the female psyche. Or his mom did something to him, so he can't handle family life. And he doesn't know how to be a father because he didn't have a father or the father he had had no idea how to treat him, or he watched him treat his mother a certain way or didn't do this. > All kinds of things that you can make up about that person, but what you need is a whole person, which is something Lloyd Richards imposed upon me, Douglas Turner Ward imposed upon me that says whenever you're on stage, you're coming from somewhere, and you're going somewhere when you leave. And do you want people to go with you when you go? So when you show up in there, you -- boom. You hit that moment, and when you leave. everybody's like well, shit I want to go with him. Where is he going? That was -- he looks like he had something on his mind. > And then I had another actor tell me once -- he was like, look, every time a camera passes you when you're on set, always look like there's something on your mind. Don't be standing there waiting on your line. Thinking about something, either what that character just said, or how you feel about the thing that character said, or even if you're thinking about, I need to get out of here. I'm sick of being here. People need to see that on your face, not just -- blank face - unless you're playing an idiot. > **Start With Your Character's Goal** > Every scene in a movie is trying to accomplish something. So you figure out what are we trying to accomplish from page three to page nine. When we're doing this scene? What is the goal for this particular scene for the movie? What information do we want to give the audience? And how do I want to give it to them? How does that relate to what's going to happen on page 99? --- ### **References**