"The additional problem is that the Spielberg who did 'Raiders' is a different man now. He's the Spielberg who did 'Schindler's List,' " and he looks at that period in history more soberly and darkly than he did before with youthful exuberance.

"But if the phone call goes, I want in."

Although he has played a variety of nationalities, there is one that eludes him. "I seldom play Americans. You guys are so kind to let me sort of come here and work anyway, I try not to play Americans. I realize that was a terrible mistake, now — one of the many to add to my collection. I used to like playing all these funny other people but not so much anymore."

He also doesn't have a lot of interest in most of what Hollywood is turning out these days. "There are times you look at it and think, 'Oh, the mortgage does have to be paid.' But if I haven't played the same part or been in this film already four times, then it's more interesting.

"So little is being made that is good these days; so much is derivative. You don't know how enraged I get doing remakes. Somebody has brought up an entire generation of entirely talentless writers who steal and plagiarize, and that gets by — although I will except 'King Kong,' P.J.'s remake. I think actually that P.J. has come up with some wonderful ideas and that his 'King Kong' will be worth seeing."

P.J. is Peter Jackson, who directed Rhys-Davies in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. But while Rhys-Davies is gratified that so many people love the movies, the experience was, for him, a disaster. "After about six months into it, I had an allergic reaction (to the makeup), and my skin peeled off around the eyes. So we go through consulting a dermatologist, and he said, 'Oh, well, we can cure this — just stop doing what you're doing.' And I said, 'I'm six months into a 14-month shoot.' And he said, 'Well, just shoot every 10 days,' and I said, 'That won't work either.'

"And they (the makeup artists) look at you and say, 'There's nothing around your eyes we can stick anything to'; it's all red and raw and covered in lymph, and three days later they start doing it again, and I can feel the crust, and it's just a nightmare. It was a singularly unpleasant process, and it quite spoiled my whole enjoyment of doing the film, actually.

"But you get on with it, and the result, of course, is something."

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E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com