There are certain filmmakers who frequently bring in the same group of actors on every project. That sort of relationship can certainly make people as close as family, and as with family that closeness can also lead to conflict. Just look at Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel. It turns out Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee once had a feud of their own, but as with the best families, they eventually made up.
Samuel L. Jackson appeared in several Spike Lee movies in the 1990s but then the pair seemed to split, with Jackson not appearing in a Spike Lee joint again until 2013’s Oldboy. In a recent interview with Vulture, Jackson reveals that the conflict stemmed from Malcolm X, a movie that Jackson was going to appear in, but he took issue with what he was getting paid. He explained…
[We fell out] over Malcolm X. I actually read with most of the people who auditioned for Malcolm X. I was supposed to be the guy that turned Malcolm X on to Islam in prison. I forget who played that role. But it was still down to that Spike Lee scale-plus-10 salary thing. I was like, ‘I’m not going to work for no scale-plus-10. ‘
Spike Lee’s movies have frequently been awards darlings that are lauded by critics, but they’re not exactly box office blockbusters. Having said that, Lee’s films do tend to be profitable for studios, and especially in the early years that was likely in large part due to his ability to keep costs down. This was probably the reason that the iconic filmmaker kept salaries down-- but after a few years Jackson apparently decided that it was not something he could do anymore.
Feuds between stars are nothing new. When personalities are in contact they will sometimes clash. Such was the case with Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, who seemed to have a much more heated battle. Johnson took issue with the way Vin Diesel handled himself on set, which The Rock saw as unprofessional, leading to Johnson exiting the Fast & Furious franchise.
While it would still be a couple more years before Samuel L. Jackson would truly breakout in Hollywood with Pulp Fiction, his star was on the rise. Around the same time that Malcolm X was going into production, Jackson had been awarded a rare honor at Cannes for his previous film with Spike Lee, Jungle Fever, which had led to the opportunity to make a different movie, that one assumes paid better. Jackson continued…
I used to call my agent every day to see if I had any auditions, callbacks, whatever. And my line to her every day was, 'Hollywood call?' She was like, 'No, sir.' So one day I called, she said, 'As a matter of fact, yeah they did. You just won an award at the Cannes Film Festival.' And I’m like, 'What? For what?' She said, 'Jungle Fever.' I said, 'They don’t give supporting actor awards at Cannes.' She’s like, 'They made up one for you.’ 'Get the fuck out of here!' And consequently, these people in Hollywood want to see you for this movie White Sands. So I took White Sands instead of Malcolm X and we fell out.
So Lee was reportedly upset that Jackson had chosen to do a movie other than Malcolm X, and Jackson was upset that Lee wouldn’t budge on the pay, leading to the conflict. The falling out seemingly lasted for a couple of decades, though Jackson has said the two are friends again, in part thanks to their wives, who had remained friends with each other through it all.
As with Lee and Jackson, Vin Diesel and The Rock are apparently friends again. As seen in the Fast X ending, The Rock is now returning to the Fast & Furious franchise after all. It's nice when families make up.
