Samuel L. Jackson has quit veganism after he was threatened with the sack from upcoming film 'Tarzan'.

The 66-year-old star claims movie bosses were going to ''fire'' him if he didn't put on 20lbs for his role as George Washington Williams in the motion picture, but after losing 40lbs as a result of being a vegan he had to stop the eating practice and start chowing down on protein meals to fatten himself up.

When asked at what point did he turn to veganism, he said: ''In August 2013. Because I said I wanted to live forever.

''Then they threatened to fire me from the 'Tarzan' movie if I didn't gain 20lbs. I'd wound up losing 40lbs.

''So I decided to go eat and now I'm not a vegan any more. I have protein meals two to three times a week and eat vegetarian the other four days.''

The 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' star didn't think he was looking that thin because none of his pals said anything to him but since putting on a few pounds they joke that he used to look like a ''lollipop''.

He added to Metro newspaper: ''Nobody said anything until I started to gain weight again and then they said, 'You looked like a lollipop there!' ''