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SNAKE-CHARMING SAMUEL PROVES HE'S A CLASS ACT

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18 AUGUST 2006

Samuel L Jackson lived up to his name as the king of cool when he cuddled up to a snake at a film premiere this week. Not even blanching for a moment the Pulp Fiction star held a firm grip on the slippery character as he publicised in-flight action movie Snakes On A Plane at Graumann's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.



His co-stars ER's foxy nurse Julianna Margulies and Elsa Pataky - the Spanish actress currently romancing Adrien Brody - were also in attendance, but chose to keep their distance from the reptiles.

Originally famed for portraying pyschos with a penchant for expletives, this time Samuel plays the good guy. His job is to stop a hitman bent on killing a federal witness by letting loose a crateload of snakes mid-air. The 57-year-old actor was so keen to appear in the film after coming across the eye-catching title in a trade magazine, he emailed the director and signed himself up on the spot.

"I never even saw a script. Didn't have to," laughs the Hollywood hotshot. "It's just a concept. Snakes on a plane, and then you put me in that kind of mix and what I've done and the characters I've played, then you have the hype. There's the story."

Nor will the laid-back actor be worried if the flick doesn't scoop any Oscars. "It's not Snakes On Brokeback Mountain. It's just snakes on a plane. You either want to see it or you don't."