Samuel L Jackson is the king of cool when it comes to acting, but he often opts for lesser roles in movies if they are mor interesting than the lead. Steve Pratt reports.

The word most often used to describe Pulp Fiction, Shaft and Unbreakable star Samuel L Jackson is cool. He looks cool and acts cool, although he sees himself as "a guy who wakes up, goes to work every day and my job happens to be acting".

As one of America's most successful actors, he's relaxed about the pressures of staying on top. Playing the Hollywood game doesn't appeal. He has no problem playing character parts or supporting parts, and doesn't demand to have his name above the title every time.

"I read scripts and a lot of times they say, 'we want you to read character X' and that's the lead character. But character Y is more interesting, and I say, 'if you can find someone who wants to be character X, I'll be character Y'," he explains.

"People know who I am and respect what I do as an actor. The average person in the street would say I'm a movie star anyway. They don't think about whose name is first or second. If you're in a movie you're a movie star."

Others in Hollywood think differently, and consequently make fewer movies than Jackson. "Those guys do one-and-a-half movies a year. I want to work a lot more," he admits.

"I enjoy acting and the process. It's part of what I always did. When I was doing theatre I got up to work or go to auditions. When I was growing up, the people in my house went to work every day. Acting is such a great job, why not do it?".

A popcorn movie such as his latest, the action thriller SWAT, is just as valid as a less mainstream film. He plays a SWAT team commander assigned to recruit and train a five-man team for a new special unit. "I love playing cops and robbers, always did when I was a kid, and liked watching this type of movie when I was growing up," says Jackson.

The film is based on a 70s US series that received little exposure over here. "When SWAT was on we only had five channels back then. So it was one of those TV shows that you watched because they were there," he says. "Now we have hundreds of channels I don't know if I would watch it. I have some episodes on DVD but didn't watch before making the movie."

The actors, who also include Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez, were packed off to SWAT school to learn the tricks of being one of these top cops. "We had a great time doing it," recalls Jackson. "We had a lot of laughs, watching people using shotguns and getting knocked over by the recoil, and firing a full clip off a machine gun. During the training period we got to know each other. By the time we started to do the movie we had pretty good relationships."

Popcorn movie or not, he takes his responsibilities towards the character seriously. "We had advisers on the set who were adamant we hold the weapons properly and things like that. There were times we had arguments with the producers that what they wanted us to do wasn't how we were trained and that real SWAT guys would do it a certain way."

Co-star Colin Farrell has a reputation for playing and partying hard off the set, but Jackson says that didn't interfere with his work on the film - he showed up every day, knew his lines, and hit his mark. He'd be doing the same thing if he was young, good-looking and "had access" to a good time. "Now I'm married and it would cost me too much to do what Colin does. I can't remember having that much access when I was his age. He'll settle down when it's time," says Jackson.

He'll be back in the next Star Wars movie, reprising his role as Mace Windu, the Jedi Council leader, and engaging in what he calls "an awesome light sabre battle". He spent two weeks learning the fight, involving 127 moves down two hallways.

His main sporting interest, though, is golf. He never misses a chance to play a round. His character in SWAT is first seen playing golf, something he insists was in the script and not added to take account of his passion for the game.

The film he produced and starred in (wearing a kilt), 51st State, is proving a big hit on video, and he has other production projects in the pipeline. Don't expect to see him in the director's chair as that would be "kind of boring", he says. "I would have to be really tired of doing my job right now to direct. The editing process doesn't interest me, sitting in a room putting a film together for four or five months."

* SWAT (12A) opens today

Published: ??/??/2003