Samuel L Jackson has revealed he had to persuade director Matthew Vaughn to let him play his part with a lisp in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The Pulp Fiction star appears opposite Colin Firth in Matthew Vaughn’s new comic book movie as villain Richmond Valentine, an internet billionaire who is trying to take over the world.

Samuel was a fan of the original comic book, but revealed he decided the villain should have a speech impediment to make him more memorable.

(Twentieth Century Fox)
Samuel L Jackson as Richmond Valentine in Kingsman with Colin Firth (Twentieth Century Fox)

He explained: “Having watched all those Bond films and other genre films of that nature, all the bad guys have something that’s very specific that separates them from other people. Or that makes people dismiss them as a villain as opposed to going, ‘he’s an evil guy’.

“So speech impediments are something that I understand because I stuttered when I was a kid, so people kind of dismiss you and go, ‘You can’t be interesting because you sound funny’.

“So I’m sure Valentine had used that as a motivational tool in a certain kind of way because people had dismissed him.

“And it was interesting for me to present that to Matthew, because he sort of did the same thing. And I said just listen, listen!

“And we got to the point where I said, ‘One of the baddest people on the planet had a lisp.’ And he said, ‘Who’s that?’ Mike Tyson.

Mike Tyson ( Marcel Thomas/Zuma Press)
Mike Tyson ( Marcel Thomas/Zuma Press)

“And he goes, ‘Oh! Right.’ And I said, ‘Can we go with that?’ And once he listened to it more and more he sort of fell in love with it too.

“It was a way for me to stay focused and interested in what I was doing every day. If he’s just a bad guy with a great idea, you want something that makes him kinda different.”