Shaft. (Right On.)

It has been almost 30 years since Richard Roundtree helped make Shaft a cult film classic. This weekend, an updated version starring Samuel L. Jackson as the original Shaft's nephew will open nationwide in theaters.

During an interview with Jackson and Roundtree, Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel asked the actors if they are resigned to the high probability that everybody is going to compare them to each other.

"I don't think they will," Jackson said. "The only comparison I've heard so far is, 'Well, why is there no sex in your movie?'"

Why no sex?

"I'm not sure," replied Jackson, 51.

"Don't look at me! I don't know," said Roundtree, 57. "I read the script, and I said, 'Wait a minute. Did I miss something?'"

Did Roundtree offer Jackson any advice?

"Sure. I had to school him on everything," Roundtree said drily, adding, "Come on, Bryant. Man, the guy comes with so much stuff with him. What am I going to tell Sam?"

Did it bother Roundtree that someone else would be sharing the role?

"I'd be lying if I didn't say, yeah," Roundtree replied, "because the bottom line is, I've been with this guy (Shaft) for 30 some-odd years, and it is somewhat difficult to let it go. On the other hand, I'm glad to let it go because of the labeling, 24/7. 'Hey! John Shaft!'"

Jackson added, "It's never going away. Forget it. It's not going to happen."

Jackson said his character is "just a cop who is trying to find his way, and all of a sudden I'm trying to work within the system and believe in it. (Roundtree's character is), like, shaking his head, looking at me, (thinking), 'You're very naive.'"

Speaking of working within the system, during the filming of Shaft, stories circulated about all the problems on the set. What happened?

"It was just an artistic issue," Jackson explained. "I think a Shaft movie should be one particular thing. (Director) John (Singleton) thinks it should be another thing. Richard knows it should be another thing. You got people on the other side just trying to make a commercial movie.

"You got to do something that says, 'Well, I have an audience that I have to be loyal to, and I trust them a lot more than you do.' So sometimes it boils down to: 'We either do it my way, or we're going to call my agent.'"

A line in the sand?

"Yeah," Jackson concluded.

If the new Shaft does well enough at the box office, Jackson is committed for two sequels. "I'd like to see the next one where Richard is a lot more proactive," says Jackson. "We had a script where he did a lot more stuff, and all of a sudden, something happened to that. I don't know, but during the process it kind of got away.

"I hope, the next time, you see both of us out there, with him doing what he does and me doing what I do; and him calming me down from time to time and mpumping him up from time to time."

And maybe next time he'll be a sex machine with all the chicks?

Replied Jackson, "That's the first thing we're going to fix."