10 Remarkable Movie Performances By The Last Actor You'd Expect

Samuel L. Jackson has a long history of working with director Quentin Tarantino. Most famously, Jackson played Jules in Pulp Fiction, cementing him as the expert in the kind of role that can best be described as "angry badass".

It's a role we've seen put to great use as Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequels and Nick Fury in the MCU. However, when Samuel L. Jackson and Quentin Tarantino teamed back up for Django Unchained, the result wasn't what anyone was expecting.

In that film, Jackson played Stephen, head of the house slaves under the control of Calvin Candie (aka, one of the roles Leonardo DiCaprio actually deserved that Oscar for). Stephen is cowardly, fiercely loyal to his master and struggles to even walk. In essence, the complete opposite of Jackson's usual role.

It's a great casting move that allows Jackson to show off another side of his talent and adds to the film's slightly surreal feel. It also clues the audience into thinking that Stephen isn't as bumbling as he initially seems.

A lot of his behaviour is an act put on for his master and behind his simple-minded facade is actually a conniving character, setting up the twist for the final act of the film that Stephen is in fact one of the main antagonists.