Sean Connery as Zed threatens a technologically perfect societv in the 23rd century in John Boorman's "ZARDOZ," a 20th Century-Fox release premiering.... at the Theatre. Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman and John Aldlerton co-star.

When producer-writer-director John Boorman contacted Sean Connery for the lead in his epic vision of the future "Zardoz," he was delighted to learn that the actor's decisiveness was as sure as that of his famed screen creation, agent 007.

A couple of phone calls to the clubhouse of a Spanish golf course was all it took.

Connery himself came to the phone, then flew in the next day. He read the script, liked what he read shook hands on a deal and started packing immediately for locations in Southern Ireland.

This was proof again that Sean is a man who knows his own mind, can speak his own mind and mean it, all of which strength writer-director Boorman was seeking for the lead in his futur-istic adventure.

In "Zardoz" Connery plays Zed the Exterminator, a near-savage who invades a technologically perfect society that has found the secret of immortality.

Among the Immortals, Charlotte Rampling is Consuella; Sara Kestelman is May and John Alderton is Friend. The film's technical lineup included Geoffrey Unsworth to photograph the film in Panavision, Tony Pratt to design it and Christel Kruse Boorman to do the costumes. John Merritt was the Editor and Charles Orme the Associate Producer.

The availability of Sean Connery proved fortuitous. "I knew that I would need someone who, on reading it, would meet me in terms of intuition, would know, in other words, what I was trying to say," says Boorman.

"Sean knew at once and pre-cisely what the role demanded and there was never a moment during production when I had to explain the main concept; he absorbed it, personified it. It was gratifying to realize that this man from a dour, Scots working-class background, extrovert and masculine in popular image, is a person of great sensitivity and perception ."

As Zed, the Exterminator who crosses the forbidden boundary to reach the heart of the Vortex Connery's performance is vital to the film's credibility.

"He plays it in artfully simple terms despite the fact that the role is a complex acting creation," says Boorman

"Zed, like Adam, is born into innocence, lives by hunting and killing, worships and fears his god, Zardoz, until it occurs to him that Zardoz is cruel and revengeful. Knowledge acquired, innocence is lost, Zed destroys his god and dares to enter the realm of the gods himself."

From a filmmaker's point of view, Connery is the complete professional with no time for temperament, his or anyone else's. "Acting is a job, like carpentry or building roads. I just can't abide stars with heads as big as their closeups.

"You know, I've never really believed it's me up there on the wide screen. Just some guy who happens to have the same features and speaking slightly more elegantly."

After the bonanza business of "Diamonds Are Forever" he could have broken producers' hearts over a cast iron contracts. And, who knows, even doubled his money in the process.

But in ten years Sean Connery has changed in one way. He has earned the ultimate freedom. To work when he pleases, at what pleases him.

'Zardoz" is a 20th Century-Fox release, produced and directed by John Boorman from his own original screenplay, and premieres ............. at the .............. Theatre.