NEW YORK -- Samuel L. Jackson doesn't play by Hollywood's rules because he doesn't know what they are.

"I still don't know how the industry evaluates an actor's work. I know it's all reflected in salaries, but I'm not sure that means they value or understand talent. I do know they don't know what to think about me. After all my years in Hollywood, I'm still considered a fringe player. I don't have studio deals. Everything is on a per-picture basis," says Jackson, whose newest film, Rules of Engagement, opens Friday.

He plays Col. Terry Childers, a marine commander who is threatened with a court marshal for ordering his troops to open fire on an angry mob storming the American Embassy in Yemen.

Childers insists the mob was armed and firing on his men, but photos taken after the incident show only bodies of unarmed women, children and seniors.

Childers asks his former marine buddy Col. Hays Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones) to defend him in court.

"I'd heard a lot about Tommy Lee's reputation for trying to intimidate his co-stars, but he didn't try anything like that with me," Jackson says.

"And he didn't play the star either. He just came to the set like the rest of us and put in a hard day's work.

"My wife (LaTanya Richardson) had worked with Tommy Lee on U.S. Marshals and said he was great to be around. I know others who've had a different experience, but that may be a personality thing."

Jackson had only one major objection to the screenplay for Rules of Engagement.

At one point, Childers and Hodges have a fist fight. Originally, Hodges was supposed to win.

"Let's call my objection light controversy. I felt that because Childers had been active for a decade longer than Hodges, there was no way he'd lose. Tommy Lee didn't want Hodges to lose either, so we settled on a draw."

Blair Underwood, who plays one of Childers' marines, was impressed with Jackson's stamina during the filming of the intense battle scenes.

"We were in Morocco filming in scorching heat running up and down stairs all day. I'm 35 and it was really tough on me," recalls Underwood. "I don't know how old Sam is, but he kept up with all of us and never complained once. You quickly develop real respect for a guy like that who could have demanded special treatment."

Jackson, who turns 51 this year, says he had volunteered for a week-long boot camp in Carolina to get in shape for the film.

Jackson is currently in Toronto filming a thriller called Caveman. He will then join Bruce Willis and Robin Wright-Penn in Unbreakable and, this summer, will reprise his role of Jedi master Mace Windu in the second Star Wars prequel.

It was reported earlier this year that Jackson holds the record for an actor making the most movies between 1980 and 2000. He starred in 36 features.

"Is that all?" he says with a wry grin. "All that means is that I like to work and I do work. But with all those films, I still didn't make as much as they gave Jim Carrey to star in The Cable Guy. For me that puts it all in perspective."

Jackson will be seen this summer playing the title character in the new version of Shaft, the 1971 blaxploitation film that made Richard Roundtree a star.

"I loved playing Shaft because I look good in those Armani suits.

"I'm wise-cracking, angry and mean."


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