He joins the FBI, which is sort of anti-Shaft family values, Jackson tells EW.

So when he comes to me for help, its a matter of reshaping him.

Hes mellowed a bit, Jackson says of his aging detective.

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Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Warner Bros.

Hes not quite as crazy and cynical.

Maybe a bit more devil-may-care the last time we saw him.

But still an extremely dangerous and funny character.

Hes always that tough but fair, well-dressed cynical guy with the right one-liner, Jackson says.

All of those things work to make somebody cool across the generations.

We dont have a lot of heroes, so the ones we have, we hold on to.

His eternally cool sense of style.

Great clothes, Jackson says with a laugh.

We can dig it.