By Was Samuel L. Jackson welcoming to Jake Gyllenhaal when he stepped onto the set of his first Marvel Cinematic Universe film? “First thing I did was point a gun at him,” Jackson says with a deadpan expression. “That’s true,” Gyllenhaal concurs.
Given their rapport when we meet them at the Corinthia Hotel on a muggy June afternoon, we can only assume it was just one of Nick Fury's props, and not a real Glock 19 pistol.
The pair are in London to promote Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Tom Holland-fronted follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming, which picks up after Avengers: Endgame.
Now the highest grossing film ever, and one which impressed both fans and critics across the board, Endgame is a big act for Far From Home to follow. There's also the added pressure of it being the final instalment of Marvel's Phase 3.
Thankfully, the film does a stellar job of both picking up the Endgame pieces and giving Phase 3 a rousing and fun send-off. The story follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) mourning the loss of his mentor and trying to enjoy a European adventure with his school friends, and love interest MJ (Zendaya).
While the world is desperate for him to step up as the next Iron Man, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) also needs his help, this time battling Elemental creatures which are plaguing earth. Spider-Man meets Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, an ally Fury wants him to team up with, and who, in his first MCU role, is played by Jake Gyllenhaal.
“I think there's a lot of pressure,” Gyllenhaal says. “I knew the ending of Endgame before we began but I didn't know how extraordinary the response would be. It's the first movie like this that I've been in and I hope people are going to like it. There's a lot of twist and turns people aren't going to see coming .”
Jackson is characteristically cool about the pressure that fronting the behemoth franchise brings, saying, “It's kinda not on us. Somebody else writes the stories and we inhabit them.” Does he think Gyllenhaal jumped aboard the Marvel train at the right time? “Oh hell yeah, I keep telling him, he came at the perfect time, we needed a new orator.”
The end of Phase 3 throws up plenty of questions about which universes might meet in the future, with rumours of an X-Men/Avengers crossover swirling, amongst others. The day before we meet Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said the idea of Venom and Holland's Spider-Man meeting “seems likely at some point.”
When asked whether they think it will happen they are impressive coy, mulling the idea over to show their extensive anti-spoiler training has paid off. “Really? Hmm,” Jackson says. “I'm sure Tom would enjoy that,” he laughs. “Both Toms!”. It turns out he was right about that.
Jackson goes onto say that, “there are a lot of things coming down that we don't know about,” but tauntingly mentions, “they're even trying to recruit Keanu Reeves according to Kevin.”
While Nick Fury is in charge of keeping the Avengers in check in the films, Jackson himself isn't such a formidable force while on set. “Do you see me running a tight ship?” he laughs.“No. I make sure that Judge Judy's on when I walk in the trailer, sandwiches laying on the table. Other that that, I don't run anything.”
Intrigued by the fact he watches Judge Judy, Gyllenhaal asks if the pair are friends, perhaps seeing this as the ultimate universe cross over. "Yeah," Jackson replies. “We fly cross-country together, [we] have dinner together when she's in L.A. That's my partner.”
Judge Judy to join the MCU? You heard it here first.
'Spider-Man: Far From Home' is released 2 July
