Samuel L. Jackon on Playing Historical Figure George Washington Williams in Legend of Tarzan

Samuel L. Jackson has spoken to Collider’s Frosty Weintraub
about his role in Legend of Tarzan.

“It’s one of those movies that I’m doing because it’s the movie I would have gone to see if I was a kid. I loved Tarzanmovies when I was a kid. I watched a bunch of them on television and at the movies, so it was really a no brainer for me. But upon reading the script I realized the historical significance of what we were talking about in this film and shedding a light on what actually happened in the Congo with King Leopold and how that was the first sort of Holocaust that actually happened on the planet, all the Africans that he killed in his quest for diamonds, ivory and rubber.”

Here’s a video of Jackson talking to Weintraub:

Jackson also talked about Director David Yates and his approach to the material:

“David’s a very smart and accomplished filmmaker. He knows what he wants to do and he knows how he wants to do it. In the midst of all that he gives us tremendous freedom to create these characters and bring all these things to what we’re doing. The fact that I was able to read King Leopold’s ghost and figure out who George Washington Williams was as a real person, who was sort of the first African American to go into the Congo and discover what King Leopold was doing. He helped me find who that guy was and what his intentions wee and how we were going to make it work in terms of me being a catalyst for Tarzan going back home, in terms of what kind of guy I was going to be when I got there, David had a very clear idea of who those characters were and what their interactions were.”

Read the full article at Collider.