HOLLYWOOD -- As an actor Samuel L. Jackson likes a change of pace.

In person, he radiates the kind of cool confidence that made him a natural to play the renegade police detective in Shaft, the calculating villain in Unbreakable or Jedi Knight Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.

For his role in the road rage movie, Changing Lanes, had to shift gears completely.

His character, Doyle Gibson, is a recovering alcoholic who is fighting for joint custody of his two children from a failed marriage.

On the day Doyle is meant to plead his case in court, he is involved in a fender bender with Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) a cocky young New York attorney.

The accident and Banek's lack of concern leave Dolye stranded and late for his court appearance propelling him into an escalating mental, emotional, financial and physical battle with the stranger who damaged more than Doyle's car.

"The fact it is a complete 360 degree turn from Shaft is one of the things that drew me to Changing Lanes," says Jackson.

"I love the idea of exploring the depths of this man's falling, his clinging to the edges of his life and his efforts to fight his way back."

'DRIVE SOMEONE CRAZY'

Jackson insists he did not talk to road rage victims or attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings as his character does.

"For me the most important step is finding a look for my characters. I like building them from the outside in.

"I spend a lot of time talking with my stylist, make-up artists and costumer and only then did I try to tap into Doyle's frustration of not being able to access the resources he needs to solve his problems."

Though both he and Affleck's characters do unconscionable things to one another, Jackson knows most viewers are going to sympathize with Doyle.

"I'm the guy most people who come to the move are going to relate to because they're not high-powered lawyers and they don't have great jobs, don't wear Armani suits and are not blessed with the kind of unlimited funds and resources Ben's character has."

As far as understanding how helpless Doyle feels at times and how pent-up he becomes, Jackson says he just has to recall those years he spent living and acting in New York.

"I understand how the bureaucracy of New York can drive someone crazy.

"And I've worked on my share of movie sets where the bureaucracy nearly drove me crazy so it wasn't difficult getting into Doyle's mindset."

Jackson says it is bureaucracy that is stalling a sequel to Shaft which he readily points out "did surprisingly well domestically and overseas and has a huge fan base.

"It's a natural for a sequel but there still isn't even talks of one in the works."

Jackson just returned from Liverpool where he filmed the drama Formula 51 about a man who invents a designer drug more powerful than ecstasy, acid or cocaine.

"I play the inventor and Robert Carlyle plays the guy who leads me through the Liverpudlian underground to try to see the patent for the drug to mobsters.

"Robert was my guide through all the Beatles spots in Liverpool which is about all that city has to offer."

Jackson says he didn't get to spend much time with Affleck on Changing Lanes.

"We were essentially making two different movies. We only interact three or four times in the film.

"The rest of the time, we're plotting with other people on how to ruin each other's lives but Ben's a cool guy and he comes really prepared to work which is far more important than an actor's cool quotient."

Among diehard Star Wars fans, Jackson has taken major heat for his revelation that his character Mace Windu dies in the final prequel chapter.

"If you remember, in the very first Star Wars, there were only two Jedi still alive -- Yoda and Obi-Wan and they train Luke.

"All the other Jedi got wiped out in the Clone Wars which will be covered in Episode III."

Though he refuses to give details of the plot for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Jackson promises "it's very close to what we all fell in love with originally.

"It's adventurous and exciting and it's got a bit of a love story in it."

Jackson says his character Mace Windu "is the voice of reason.

"Aside from Yoda, he is the head of the Jedi Council. He's insightful but he has a violent streak you will get glimpses of in this one."

Best of all for Jackson, Mace Windu "has a purple light saber. He has the only purple light saber in the universe and that's super cool."

A bit like Jackson himself.


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