A Soviet Director Goes Hollywood : Film: A celebrity in Moscow, Rodion Nahapetov came over for the challenge and ‘the pursuit of happiness.’

For Rodion Nahapetov, life in Moscow is all borscht and caviar. A well-known Soviet director, the short, soft-spoken Nahapetov has it all: steady work at Mosfilm Studios, a string of hits and the kind of celebrity status that has earned him instant recognition whenever he goes out in public.

So why is he renting an apartment in Santa Monica, living in relative obscurity and knocking on the doors of Hollywood movers and shakers like a first-rung neophyte?

“I was between projects at Mosfilm,” said the 46-year-old director. With a wry smile, he added, “Instead of going for a long vacation at a Black Sea resort, I came here to broaden my horizons and engage in the pursuit of happiness.”

Nahapetov’s work at Mosfilm has won him awards at international film festivals in Monte Carlo, Brussels and Lublin, Poland. None of his films has been shown in general release in the United States, though. He was also an accomplished actor before turning director; among his many leading roles was the politically committed but love-struck cinematographer Victor in the 1976 film “Slave of Love.”

Now, Nahapetov is eager to try his hand at directing a Hollywood movie. And after several months of frustration, he may be turning the corner.

Ron Parker, producer of “My Stepmother Is an Alien,” has agreed to co-produce a script by Nahapetov and Los Angeles screenwriter Jennifer Wilke. Titled “A Little Rain on Thursday,” it’s the story of a romantic liaison between a brash young American fashion photographer and a young Soviet widow he meets in Leningrad. Parker and Nahapetov are seeking funding for the project.

Nahapetov, who speaks limited English, has been in Los Angeles for almost a year and a half. He acknowledged that it might be easier to make “A Little Rain” for Mosfilm, but less of a challenge.

“It will be more interesting to make it with Americans,” he said. “If I do it with a Soviet group, I don’t have to change in any way. But if I do it with Americans, I have to re-examine everything that I’ve learned professionally. It will be like an exam of my professionalism and my ability to direct a foreign group.”

Although the cultural thaw of the glasnost era has enabled Nahapetov to be away from Mother Russia for 16 months, much of the credit is also due to his free spirit.

“If I told Moscow, ‘I’m going to America for a long time to work,’ there would have been difficulties for me,” he said. “I came here to rest for a couple of months.”

But something turned up while he was here resting. Media Source International, a Washington film group, offered Nahapetov the opportunity to serve as on-camera narrator for a television documentary on Soviet emigres in the United States. Nahapetov simply obtained a work visa from the U.S. government and prolonged his stay without bothering to notify Soviet officials.

“I figured it was my work and my business, and it’s not really connected with the Soviet Union,” he said. “Maybe when I decide to return to the Soviet Union, I will have a big problem. But now, it’s good.”

The theme of such Nahapetov films as “With You and Without You” and “At the Close of Night,” he said, is the way love can bring together and change different kinds of people: an old person with a young one, people of different nationalities, or extroverts and introverts.

“Love changes people. It can make them better, or it can make them worse. All of my films, in one way or another, speak of that transformation.”

Speaking of love, Nahapetov acknowledges that his prolonged stay abroad has meant a prolonged separation from his wife and two young daughters in Moscow. But they keep in touch through phone calls and an occasional visit here.

Studio officials in Hollywood, however, have not proved as lovable for Nahapetov so far.

“When a high Soviet official smiles at you, slaps you on the back and shakes your hand, it means you’ve got a job,” he said. “If a Hollywood executive does the same thing, you can still be on the street tomorrow.”