FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Samuel L. Jackson Calls For Full Troop Pullout
So George W. better change his tune, cuz everyone knows Samuel L.
is one bad mofo!
By Michelle Foody for Hollywood Today
HOLLYWOOD-CA(rushprnews)01/15/2007 -- President Bush's plan to send more troops into Iraq
isn't winning any popularity contests in Washington or Hollywood --
and film star Samuel L. Jackson is using his bully pulpit to preach
just the opposite approach.
"I can understand the Iraqi's resistance to us, just the same
as we would have a resistance to them if they were in our neighborhood",
the outspoken actor told entertainment newsmagazine Hollywood Today
(www.hollywoodtoday.net ). Strongly anti-war since Vietnam, Jackson
went on to declare that it was "time for us to just go ahead
and withdraw [from Iraq] and let it go."
The actor would like to see others in the film community join in
the cry for a pullout, accusing the entertainment industry of being
out of touch. "War is ugly...in Beverly Hills I don't have friends
whose kids are in Iraq. I don't know anybody who is involved in the
war."
Jackson has been extra hissy since "Snakes on a Plane"
crashed at the box office, bringing in a pint-sized $34 million domestically.
"Snakes" was an Internet-fueled phenom, expected to turn
traditional marketing upside down and kill in the theaters.
Yet, Jackson had the last laugh this week as the DVD issue of "Snakes"
slithered to the top of both the sales and rental charts in its first
week, knocking box office hit "Talladega Nights" out of
the top slot. Rentals alone brought in $5 million.
While the war riles Jackson a bit, something closer to home really
shook him up. Jackson has worked with rappers-turned-actors seven
times, more than any other film star in Hollywood. The short-lived
Iraq war film "Home of the Brave" was to be lucky No. 8,
and co-star 50 Cent was the hip-hopper who broke the camel's back.
The feud outshone the movie.
Irwin Winkler (the director of "Home") put in 50 Cent over
SLJ's initial opposition, which Jackson said fed the "need (for)
a build-in audience of some sort."
The feud began back when Jackson claimed he turned down a role in
the 50 Cent biopic, "Get Rich or Die Trying". The rapper
didn't take the rejection well, firing back to the New York Daily
News that the actor isn't so different from himself:
"(Jackson) was a crackhead originally, right? So I come from
being a rapper, and he comes from being a crackhead."
While crackheads and rappers may or may not share an unspoken bond,
Jackson extended the olive branch to his costar.
"We (50 Cent and I) have a working and social relationship that's
fine... do what you got to do."
Permission to re-print or rebroadcast granted provided entertainment
newsmagazine Hollywood Today is credited and web address (www.hollywoodtoday.net)
is listed whenever possible.
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