His Own Best Fan

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On the occasions when filmmakers don't take their material as seriously as he does (the phrase "best thing in a bad movie" has a way of lingering near him), Jackson is unafraid to get vocal. "The majority of producers and directors do maybe 12 movies in their careers," Jackson says. "I've done over 100 already. I've got a pretty good idea of what audiences want, and when my character dies for no goddam reason"--as has happened more times than he can count--"or we pull punches on the action, or the thing just doesn't make logical sense ..." He stops there in frustration, but Jackson has been known to bring a little bit of Shaft-like menace to the set. David Ellis, who directed Snakes and has worked as an assistant director on four other Jackson films, says of the actor, "Unless the director is a total jerk, he's always very respectful. But he's a tireless advocate for the film he read in the script and pictured in his head. He so wants to entertain people, and folks in the movie business often forget that's what our mission is."

Of course, Jackson mostly wants to entertain himself. So he will make sure to get to a Snakes screening on opening weekend--"I'm looking for a full theater, hopefully where people will shout at the screen," he says--and he remains in the hunt for his personal filmic holy grail. Not an Oscar-winning role ("Uh, have you seen some of the people who have Academy Awards?" he asks, laughing) but a genuine old-fashioned western. "I want horses," he says. "I want to stand in the middle of the street and see if I'm faster than somebody. I want to pick people off rooftops. Doesn't that sound like a good time?"