Samuel L. Jackson Didn’t Want ‘Snakes on a Plane’ to End up Like His Movie ‘S.W.A.T.’
Samuel L. Jackson was so excited to do Snakes on a Plane that he did the feature without even reading the script. But after reading the script, he felt the film might have had too many restrictions for a horror flick.
Samuel L. Jackson didn’t want ‘Snakes on a Plane’ to have the same restrictions as his movie ‘S.W.A.T.’
Jackson’s Snakes on a Plane and S.W.A.T. couldn’t have been any more different from each other. The latter was a 2003 movie based on the 1975 television film of the same name, which centered on a team of LA police officers. Meanwhile, Snakes saw Jackson playing an FBI agent hunting down snakes. But Jackson felt he helped Snakes avoid a mistake that might have crippled S.W.A.T..
Initially, Snakes on a Plane was rated PG-13, which Jackson couldn’t have been more against. He felt the film’s rating interfered with its potential.
“In this day and age, you can show snake strikes. You can see them bite. You see the injection of venom. You can see the snake bite fester, blow up, and all that other stuff. But we weren’t doing any of that stuff when we were shooting. And also, nobody was cursing,” Jackson once told Entertainment Weekly. “Which is kind of unrealistic, when you’re in a plane with a bunch of f***ing snakes.”
Jackson learned from S.W.A.T. how much he disliked working in movies he felt shouldn’t have been PG-13. It was a mistake he vowed not to repeat with Snakes.
“We did SWAT that way. SWAT was kind of a bloodless crime film. How do you do that? But I was insistent, all the time shooting Snakes, that we should go ahead and do it anyway. It’ll save us time and money, ‘cuz I knew we’re going to have to come back and do it anyway. Nobody ever believes me when I say that,” he said.
Samuel L. Jackson’s management convinced him to avoid the Snakes on ‘Snakes on a Plane’
Jackson had little issue tangling with wild snakes. It was the idea of audiences watching him battle against the wild animals that convinced him to do Snakes in the first place. The movie’s concept reminded the actor of the types of films he used to shoot in the past.
“Snakes on a Plane has all the things that were Saturday afternoon matinees for me, like Wolfman, Dracula, Tarantula, and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. It’s just a ridiculous f***ing concept that’s exciting. Everyone is scared of snakes. And a lot of people are afraid of flying. Combine those two fears and you have a pretty good roller coaster for a lot of people to get caught up in,” Jackson said..
But Snakes on a Plane wouldn’t feature actors wearing costumes like those other horror films. The movie’s scenes would include real snakes to slither around the movie’s cast. Jackson’s management team, however, ensured that he’d be protected from the snakes at all costs.
“My agent was insistent. No snakes within 20 feet. In the beginning they were talking about having rattlesnakes they had taken the venom sacks out of but I was like, ‘Oh, hell no. That don’t work for me,’” Jackson once said according to Black Film.
The Pulp Fiction star clarified that his avoidance of snakes wasn’t based on phobia.
“When I was a kid when we saw a snake the snake was in a lot more trouble then we were. We’d chase it and hoped we could catch it so we could beat it,” Jackson revealed. “I’ve handled them, I had snakes draped all over me the other day for the photo shoot.”
Samuel L. Jackson’s agents couldn’t believe he wanted to do ‘Snakes on a Plane’
Jackson’s decision to do the film confused many, especially because of his star-power. The project first ended up on his radar when he thought filmmaker Ronnie Yu would do the film. But even Jackson’s own inner circle questioned the Django Unchained actor when he revealed his plans.
“My agents were like, ‘Did you REALLY tell Ronnie Yu you wanted to make a movie called Snakes on a Plane? [But] my agents and managers have finally figured out that I’m pretty much going to do what I want to do. Sometimes, they don’t get it. And it’s okay for them not to get it,” he said.
