Samuel L. Jackson in Jumper Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

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In a dense jungle in a far-flung corner of the globe, another Jumper must die. Trussed up in a tree with shock nets and electric cords, he begs for his life. But his pursuer, the Paladin leader Roland, is not about to show mercy. His smile is a grimace that hints at the pleasure he takes in ridding our world of these genetic freaks that have the ability to teleport themselves to any location. He pulls out a huge glinting blade and plunges it into his screaming victim. Roland is a fervent leader of the Paladins, who have been waging a war against Jumpers for centuries and will stop at nothing in order to locate and eradicate the enemy.

Crowned with a head of silver hair, Samuel L. Jackson is Roland in Doug Liman's multi-location action sci-fi thriller and is hell-bent on tracking down David Rice (Hayden Christensen), a young, fun-loving Jumper based in New York who has a taste for robbing banks and living the life of a playboy adventurer. But as Roland closes in on his quarry, David finds help from Griffin (Jamie Bell), a reclusive but savvy Jumper who's spent much of his life devising ways to protect himself from the Paladins. On a set that was marked by constant changes to the script and cast and marred by accidents, including the death of a set dresser and head injuries to Christensen, Jackson rolled with the ups and downs of working on Jumper. Here he chats about acting opposite his former Star Wars co-star again, how he learned his character is driven by religious zealotry, and the fight sequences that ended up on the cutting room floor.

So did you enjoy getting a little bit of revenge on Hayden (Christensen) because he killed you in Star Wars?
No, actually I didn't think about it. I'll try and enjoy it more now.

What do you hope audience members take away from this?
I don't know. I hope they like it enough that it makes enough money that they make the other two. That's what I'm looking forward to. Seeing how the whole trilogy sort of plays out and fleshing out the stories of who the Paladins are and what the history is of the Jumper-Paladin war and all that stuff.

Were you familiar with the books prior to this?
No... When Doug first approached me about doing the film, the books were not out of print, but they were hard to find. And then all of a sudden — I guess now that the movie's coming out — they're back. But they weren't easy to find at that time. And my character doesn't show up until the last book anyway.