'We wander around the thought of what that would be like. What if we hadn't had 50 years of peace? It's a sort of stupid question if you have to answer it in two minutes but as a discussion it's wonderful. You go into a thought and make a left and follow it all the way down.' Hauer -- he was author Anne Rice's first choice for the lead role in the film adaptation of her 'Interview With A Vampire' which finally, through Tinseltown tactics and politics, went to Tom Cruise -- is reflective and contemplative. It is as if nothing will disturb him. In the 1970s he made 'Turkish Delight' and 'Soldier of Orange' with countryman Paul Verhoeven who is now a Hollywood director-in-demand following 'RoboCop', 'Total Recall' and 'Basic Instinct.' There were a string of other films. But the Hollywood apple tempted them. Europe seemed small. With Verhoeven he moved across the Atlantic : 'We were accused of disloyalty and that sort of thing but I don't accept it. To me it's like children leaving home -- if you want to grow you have to move on....' He moved. Fast. He ended up more sympathetic as the android than Harrison Ford's human cop in 'Blade Runner' and even gave the horrific killer John Ryder some charisma in 'The Hitcher'. He got to be the good guy in Sam Peckinpah's 'The Osterman Weekend' but, truthfully, the movie wasn't worth a wet Saturday afternoon.Far more successful had been his American debut as a clever, relentlessly ruthless terrorist being hunted down by Sylvester Stallone in 'Nighthawks'. It was not simple job. 'I had a lot of problems on that film, principally with Stallone. I had to fight him on the level of what I thought was good enough for the part and what he thought was good enough. I was very angry.. very aggressive, very alert, very awake. I don't think I've been more motivated or done better work.' That is, until 'Nostradamus'. The film centres on Michel de Nostradame ( 1504 -- 1566) whose predictions have been studied by and mesmerised billions of people for more than four centuries. Every year more than 20 million people read and re-read the predictions of Nostradamus, a visionary who predicted everything from California earthquakes to the birth of Hitler. French actor Tcheky Karyo --the agent who trained the leggy girl killer in 'La Femme Nikita' -- has the title role and British players like Amanda Plummer, Diana Quick and Michael Gough also ache for attention. But Hauer has the showy role of monk who may not have 52 cards in his pack: 'Actually, I don't think he's crazy but then I never think weird characters are crazy. I like the flavour of insanity and understanding guidance e that are both in the guy. Nostradamus is experiencing moments of doubts when he meets the monk and by embracing him and through his ramblings the monk tells him he is doing the right thing. I did my own prop for the role -- something to get attention! I wear an iron crown set with burning candles. The crown is basically a practical sort of thing,' deadpans the actor adding:' He's an inventor and he makes it so that he can see while having his hands free, like a miner, but you could also see it as a sort of aura. I enjoy seeing how people react to it.'
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