By JEFF CRAIG --

HOLLYWOOD -- Even film genius Steven Spielberg has a few clunkers like 1941 and Always on his resume.

So Morgan Freeman doesn't take it too seriously when he's reminded of Moll Flanders, Outbreak or even last year's abysmal action flick Chain Reaction.

"Every time out of the blocks you're not going to be a world beater," Freeman says.

"You're not going to knock people back on their heels."

The talented screen (thrice Oscar nominated) and stage actor (Tony nominated) is one of the most respected in Hollywood for such quality performances as Driving Miss Daisy, Shawshank Redemption and the 1995 hit Seven.

But every film he does is "worthy and meaningful and important to somebody," Freeman says.

"It's with an awful lot of luck, I think, when you jump out there and people start talking about it."

People are talking, it seems, about his appearance in Kiss the Girls (opens in Edmonton Friday), in which he plays a detective on the trail of serial killers, like he did in Seven, the film that made Brad Pitt a superstar.

But Freeman has become used to the suggestion that he's repeating himself, and he denies it.

"What's similar, except for the face?" he asks, displaying a fine sense of humor uncommon in his movie portrayals.

"I think the character's different. I never even wore a hat in this movie. I never wore a raincoat ... didn't drive a Chevrolet.

"But I shot somebody - two somebodies!"

Kiss the Girls isn't a Seven ripoff, of course, something fans of the popular thriller novel by the same name will attest to.

But all the talk has got the actor thinking that he's becoming stereotyped, tossed into a film's cast not only because of his proven talent but because of the prestige his name adds to the marquee.

"I'm beginning to feel that I get hired sometimes to lend dignity," Freeman says with a wicked smile.

"But that's mostly because reporters keep telling me that's what's happening."

With Kiss the Girls, an action flick recently retitled Hard Rain (from The Flood, co-starring Christian Slater) poised for release, Freeman is looking to change course in his career, perhaps even with some of the comedic talent he so obviously displays in person.

"I'm good at comedy ... did lots of it on stage."

But first, Freeman takes a definitely serious turn in one of the most anticipated films of the coming Christmas season, Amistad.

Set in 1839, the film tells the true story of 53 Africans who take over the slave ship Amistad and kill their captors.

Matthew McConaughey plays a lawyer and Freeman plays a slave abolitionist.

"There's a lot of historical stuff I'd like to redo," Freeman says, complaining that North American history has been "white-ized.

"The reason is that it's white people telling it. If history had been written by blacks, there would be no whites in it. If the native Americans had written it, there wouldn't be any of us in it.

"I recognize that. What I want to do is go back and re-write it.

"I wasn't born to do anything else. I was born to do this. It's my calling and the greatest luck is to be able to answer that call."


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