Samuel L. Jackson celebrated Bruce Willis milestone 70th birthday by recalling a career advice he received from him.

In his tribute published by Vanity Fair, Jackson remembered shooting Die Hard With a Vengeance with Willis and shared the major career tip he got from his legendary co-star.

“He told me, ‘Hopefully you’ll be able to find a character that, when you make bad movies and they don’t make any money, you can always go back to this character everybody loves,” the Pulp Fiction actor told the outlet.

“He said, ‘Arnold’s got Terminator. Sylvester’s got Rocky and Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.'”

Jackson noted that he didn’t even realise that he was following Willis’ advice until his memorable Marvel role.

“It didn’t occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role, and I had a nine-picture deal to be Nick Fury that, ‘Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now.'”

Jackson and Willis starred in four movies together, 1993’s Pulp Fiction, 1995’s Die Hard With a Vengeance, 2000’s Unbreakable, and its 2019 sequel Glass.

Meanwhile, he made his debut as Nick Fury in the in the post-credits scene of 2008’s Iron Man. 

Jackson then eventually become a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and made dozens of cameos across movies such as The Avengers and Captain Marvel and television series like Secret Invasion.