- Samuel L. Jackson reacted to the sexism that costar Brie Larson faced from the Marvel fandom.
- "Brie's a stronger person than people give her credit for," Jackson told Rolling Stone.
Samuel L. Jackson stood up for his frequent costar Brie Larson and weighed in on the sexism she's faced since joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
"Brie's a stronger person than people give her credit for," Jackson told Rolling Stone in a new interview published on Tuesday.
Jackson and Larson, known for their current roles as Nick Fury and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel in the MCU have appeared together in a handful of films over the years.
Jackson told Rolling Stone that they bonded through their unpleasant experiences on the set of "Kong: Skull Island" (2017), the first movie they costarred in. They teamed up again for Larson's 2017 movie "Unicorn Store," which marked her feature film directorial debut.
Jackson said that while filming "Unicorn Store," which Larson also starred in, he encouraged her to be strong after feeling "broken" by Donald Trump becoming elected the President of the United States.
The two actors have since costarred in "Captain Marvel" and "Avengers: Endgame." They'll also appear together in the upcoming "Captain Marvel" sequel, "The Marvels," set for release on November 10.
"Captain Marvel," which marked the MCU's first female-fronted movie, was tainted by internet trolls pre- and post-release. People who took issue with Larson's wry humor and her character's confident disposition (among other sexist critiques) engaged in review bombing to lower the film's score on aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
In a 2019 interview with Variety, Larson said that she didn't "have the time" for the negativity from the fandom.
"I have genuinely never needed to look at the internet to explain to me who I am," Larson said.
"When you have a mission and things that you want to do — and my time and my energy is so limited — it just becomes so clear as to what I want to spend it on," she added. "And that's just not what's of interest to me."
Jackson shared similar comments about Larson's outlook in his Rolling Stone interview.
"She's not going to let any of that stuff destroy her," he said. "These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she's a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she's genuinely that."