In the upcoming movie Home of the Brave, Samuel L. Jackson and 50 Cent both star as American soldiers in Iraq. I am not a big fan of 50 Cent as an actor, although to be fair, I don’t necessarily think his performance in Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is what brought that movie down. What I didn’t realize at the time is that Samuel L. Jackson is apparently not a big fan of 50 Cent as an actor either… or at least, he wasn’t before doing this movie with him. Jackson was previously approached for a role in Get Rich or Die Tryin’, but turned it down because he refused to take lower billing to a musician turned actor.

Recently, 50 Cent responded to Jackson’s bias against musicians working in the movie industry by citing Jamie Foxx as an example of someone who went in the opposite direction. “It works vice versa on all different fronts. You see people come from all different perspectives of entertainment and receive opportunities. I don’t want to do a movie with a rapper either if he’s not 100 percent prepared for it.” I guess the difference with an actor going on to be a musician is that he doesn’t have to work with other musicians, and possibly bring down the quality of someone else’s work. I’m sure a lot of serious musicians think Foxx’s music is a joke though too.

Jackson still feels that the musician needs to be right for the part before being cast. “I said to the director, ‘It’s your film. If he’s the best actor you’ve seen, fine. If you need a built-in audience of some sort… do what you got to do. 50 Cent and I had lots of conversations about this and we see each other out at functions, so we have a working and social relationship that’s fine.”