DEMI MOORE JOINS HER GENERATION IN ‘ELMO’S’

“Did you see the billboard? It was so spooky--I mean, there was my face!”

Demi (pronounced with the emphasis on mi) Moore involuntarily shivered. Few could miss the Sunset Strip billboard for “St. Elmo’s Fire” that loomed outside the restaurant.

Unlike many of her hipper-veneered peers, Moore made no attempt to mask her enthusiasm for “Elmo’s,” which features the 22-year-old actress in her largest role.

A relative newcomer on the ensemble movie circuit, Moore and actress Mare Winningham were the only two cast members who hadn’t worked previously with “Elmo’s” co-stars Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy.

“I guess I did feel a little like the new kid in class,” the actress acknowledged, explaining that she’d had plenty of that experience with frequent family moves when she was younger (her father worked in sales for newspapers).

Flashing a smile, the actress added in her distinctive throaty growl: “But that didn’t last for long. We all really enjoyed each other. Even though it was our job to become closer, the extra plus was that we’ve all become good friends.”

In Moore’s case, it’s easy to see why. The brunette embodies the charm and vivacity of Jules, her character in the story of seven college friends facing their first year in the “real world.”

Unlike Jules--whose jet-set life style masks a serious cocaine problem--Moore, at 22, appears to have her life firmly together.

“I loved wearing the clothes,” she enthused. “I’ve always been such a tomboy; it was the fairy-tale side of being very glamorous.” Growing serious, she reflected: “But basically, I refer to Jules’ condition in the movie as coming down to being a tramp, liar and a cheat--not necessarily literally. She just didn’t care. The more she got caught up in that cycle and the more she used drugs to escape, the worse she felt about herself and the more she had to pretend that she didn’t.

“I could relate--I used to spend a lot of time looking outside of myself for the answer. And now, today, I live by looking inside myself and not giving it all out there. And I find I have so much more to give.”

Moore laughed when told of her reputation as a wild woman--due largely to the Kawasaki 440 motorcycle she rides. “I love to have a good time, but I live very clean, and I eat real healthy,” she insisted. “I’m not someone who by nature does what’s good for me. I’m a compulsive personality, but I’ve learned to live one day at a time. I trust in a power greater than myself and tap into a lot of that spirituality.”

Poised and articulate, Moore expressed many of the same sentiments voiced by others her age--but with unusual depth and insight. Rather than agreeing that she, too, shared her generation’s unveering devotion to Getting Ahead, she reflected on the reasons for it.

“I come from the generation whose parents wanted us to try everything . . . but at home,” she explained. “I think that freedom actually made us more goal-oriented. We didn’t want to shirk responsibility--it was too scary not to take that responsibility. We’re striving to make something of ourselves, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative thing.”

Moore has been successfully striving in her chosen profession for several years, although not always on film.

She made her acting debut on ABC’s “General Hospital” as the new love interest to Laura-less Luke Spencer (Tony Geary). As newspaper reporter Jackie Templeton (“Miss Hard Facts,” she joked), Moore said she was selected from 1,000 other actresses considered for the role.

“It’s odd, because I was way too young (18) for the role,” she recalled. “They told me that Tony had asked for somebody between 25 and 30--more his age--so he wouldn’t be playing opposite a child. I think I was the youngest out of all of them, but Tony and I had good rapport.” She chuckled. “I guess I was enough like Margot Kidder that the Lois Lane image worked.”

Moore enjoyed her two-year soap opera experience for several reasons. “It was a great place for me to grow, practice and learn. Plus they were really generous in letting me off for four months during my contract to do ‘Blame It on Rio.’ ”

In “Blame,” Moore drew favorable reviews from critics for her role as Michael Caine’s sullen daughter, but those didn’t seem as important to her as her experiences in Brazil while the movie was filming.

“It was such a wild place. I had a three-bedroom flat and a maid and the smaller role, so I had the opportunity to travel. I could jump on a plane every weekend or go to Sao Paulo, and I had all Brazilian friends. I fit right into the groove. . . .”

After returning to “General Hospital” and completing her contract, Moore appeared in the forgettable “Parasite,” a low-budget 3-D flick about a man-eating flatworm.

“Well, we all have one in our closets,” she said, smiling guiltily. “The thing about that movie was that I don’t even see 3-D. I belong to the 5% of the population whose eyes can’t focus that way.”

In this case, it was clear she found that affliction a blessing.

Moore--like many young actresses--bemoaned the lack of female roles “that aren’t attached to a man” and felt the only way to rectify the situation was to “get involved in the writing.”

When she next steps before the cameras, Moore said, “I’d like to play someone a little more introverted and introspective. Someone who is not so caught up in themselves in such a destructive manner.”