Samuel L Jackson, ‘Secret Invasion’ and deep-rooted film-noir inspiration
We will forever associate Samuel L Jackson with the medium of cinema. Looking back at his performances in Pulp Fiction, Menace II Society, Star Wars and Jackie Brown, when conjuring up an image of Jackson, our minds will always go straight to the big screen.
However, Jackson has also contributed to the realms of theatre and television, proving the versatility of his talent. In terms of the stage, he has appeared in The Piano Lesson and The Mountaintop, whereas the domain of TV has profited from his efforts in Secret Invasion and the Disney series What If?
Those two programmes saw Jackson play the master spy and director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, who he has also portrayed in a number of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Secret Invasion focuses on Fury and Talos, who look into a conspiracy in which a gang of shapeshifters are said to be trying to conquer Earth.
Speaking with A-Frame, director Ali Selim once explained how he had seen an element of film noir in the script for Secret Invasion. “When I read the script from Kyle Bradstreet, I was immediately pulled into themes of mistrust, and paranoia, and suspicion,” he said. “When you take all of that and wrap it together, I immediately go to film noir.”
Selim then went on to state his favourite film noir movie of all time and explain how it had influenced Secret Invasion. “I think we’ll all agree that the greatest film noir of all time is The Third Man,” the director said, referring to the 1949 film written by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed.
Starring Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard, The Third Man takes place in post-World War II Allied-occupied Vienna and focuses on a writer who arrives in the Austrian capital to take on a job with his friend. However, Holly Martins soon learns that Harry Lime has recently died, and when he sticks around in the city to investigate, Martins begins to fall for Lime’s girlfriend.
Discussing his impressions of The Third Man, Selim noted, “The first time I saw The Third Man was years ago in a film class with a professor who loved noir and walked us through it. My son lives in Vienna, and there is a theater on the main street in Vienna that shows The Third Man every day, seven days a week, at three o’clock in the afternoon. I’ve seen it there, where then you can step out and walk the streets, which is really a fascinating experience.”
Carol Reed combined the ruined parts of Vienna with a noir black-and-white cinematography style and some brilliant acting to deliver what some consider to be one of the greatest movies of all time. For Selim, the film stuck around in his mind for many years and when it came time to deliver Secret Invasion, he tapped into his memories of the film noir to elevate the performance of Jackson.
Noting the parallels between Nick Fury and Holly Martins, Selim said of Jackson’s frequent character, “He needs to address his personal life in order to accomplish the task that he’s been given in this show, and part of that is addressing his internal life, and questions of fears, and doubts, and purpose.” So, The Third Man helped Jackson and Selim douse their Disney+ effort in a sense of mystery and noir.
