HOLLYWOOD -- It's Sir Ben, thank you very much.

Ben Kingsley was knighted for his contribution to the arts on New Years Eve 2001.

It's not an honour he takes lightly, nor does he think others should.

"In England, it's now Sir Ben. Mister has just disappeared. It's not even on my passport anymore. They've taken Mister away from me," says Kingsley, who won his Oscar in 1983 for Gandhi.

He was nominated again in 1992 for Bugsy and 2002 for Sexy Beast.

He received a Golden Globe nomination for playing the former Iranian colonel fighting for his dignity in America in The House of Sand and Fog, which opens Friday.

"The title is the equivalent of when you become a doctor after years of medical school training ... I suppose after years of chewing up the furniture and scenery on stage and in films I get to Sir for being a thespian."

Kingsley can be intimidating, as Vadim Perelman can attest.

After he had secured the rights to turn Andre Dubus III's novel House of Sand and Fog into a movie, Perelman flew to London to ask Kingsley to play Massoud Amir Behrani --an Iranian immigrant who purchases a house for unpaid taxes only to find that the original owner (Jennifer Connelly) will do absolutely anything to get it back.

The story unfolds like a "classic Greek tragedy," says Kingsley.

"Before I met Sir Ben, I was terrified of him. I was completely intimidated by his talent," recalls Perelman, who makes his feature film directing debut with House of Sand and Fog.

"I feared he wouldn't work with a first-time director, and if he would, that he was not going to be flexible. I owe him so very much because he gave me the gift of respect and, once he did, all the other cast members followed."

Everyone from producers, director, crew and cast members deferred to his knighthood status, addressing him as Sir Ben.

Producer Michael London explains: "Sir Ben grew up in a culture where people respect titles and honours. He is called Sir Ben at home so it seems natural to him and to everyone around him to do the same here in America. It never felt intrusive."

Born Krishna Bhanji, Kingsley apprenticed with London's Royal Shakespeare Company, which he says prepared him to play a character like Behrani.

"Working on Shakespeare and other classics familiarizes an actor with epic landscapes about individuals' struggling with enormous issues.

"A man's destiny, journey and a struggle for one's soul are very, very big issues that we juggled nightly in the Royal Shakespeare Company as young actors."

Dubus' wife initially sent a copy of her husband's book to Kingsley.

"It came with the most charming letter," the actor says. "She said he had held me in his mind's eye when he was creating Behrani."

Kingsley said he was moved by the gesture and immediately "felt Behrani was an ancient warrior. I saw his fall from grace in Iran like a great bronze statue being pulled down" -- 18 months later he received the request from Perelman to play the role.

"It became my task to give as honest a portrait of this man as possible with all his great traits and all his flaws," says Kingsley.

Shohreh Aghdashloo, an Iranian immigrant who plays Kingsley's wife in the film, pays Kingsley the supreme complement when she says "by the second week of rehearsals he had become Colonel Behrani. He was thinking like an Iranian military man.

"I was simply amazed at the transformation and how well he understood the subtleties of our culture."

Kingsley became so immersed in the Iranian culture that he had his marriage resanctified in a Persian ceremony on Dec. 9. Kingsley married his third wife Alexandra Christman this past October.

"I did not take this role lightly," says Kingsley. "I couldn't. It had real ties to me."


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