[Gina1201]

LOS ANGELES — If Method Man wants his part as Snoop Dogg's best friend in "Soul Plane" to be believable, he might want to start saying kinder things about him to the media.

"Honestly, I think he's one of the worst rap actors in the game right now. There's a bunch of us and he's one of the worst ones," Meth said backstage at Saturday's taping of the MTV Movie Awards. "And Snoops knows that, but Snoop's a hustler. He's gonna keep his face out there."

Method Man did note that he's never worked with Snoop — who's appeared in "Training Day," "The Wash" and "Bones," among other flicks — and said he may change his mind after shooting the "Airplane!" remake. He also complimented the D-O-Double G's appeal.

"He's a personality," Meth said. "He's like ODB. Even though he keeps f---ing up, there's somebody out there who wants to see him."

On Tuesday, however, the Wu-Tang rapper said that what he meant by his comments (which he claimed to not remember making) was that most rappers should not step outside their acting ranges.

"We're not Will Smiths yet," he said. "When I say he's the worst out of all of us, I mean all of us aren't actors. I was playing. When I seen him in 'Half Baked,' he did his thing. That was Snoop. ... I got love for Snoop when Snoop plays Snoop parts. ... Me and Red ain't actors, we suck too. ... I'm not sh--ting on him. That's my n---a right there."

"Soul Plane," which finds Snoop playing a pilot, will begin filming this summer under the direction of Jessy Terrero, best known for his music videos, including 50 Cent's "Wanksta".

Method Man had some concerns about the script ("Too many stereotypes going on in there"), but he took a small part because he liked the story. "It's basically about a guy who gets into an accident on an airplane and he sues and comes into a lot of money, so he decides to start his own," he explained.

After "Soul Plane," Meth has several starring roles lined up, all buddy movies with his partner-in-rhyme, Redman. The first will either be a remake of the Japanese comedy "Jailbreakers," with the duo playing inmates who break out of jail only to find they've already been pardoned, or one tentatively titled "DEA."

"Me and Redman get into some trouble and caught up with the DEA and they use us as pawns to find this big drug dealer," the rapper said of the latter, before pointing out his concern with the movie. "It's going to be PG-13, though. Why?"

Other Method Man projects in the works include his third solo album, Tical 0: The Prequel, due in September, and a documentary on exotic dancing due around the same time on DVD.

— Corey Moss, with reporting by Ryan J. Downey and Shaheem Reid