MOVIES : Demi Moore Is Now Bankable and the Boss : Sure, it’s great that “Ghost” propelled the actress into star territory, but being a producer gave her a different kind of power

A week into the shoot of Columbia Pictures’ new thriller “Mortal Thoughts,” Demi Moore, who was not only starring in but co-producing the film, faced the downside of being a boss: Something had to be done about a novice director who didn’t see the film the way she and the rest of the production team did.

“I was pushed into being part of a very difficult painful decision,” said Moore, who after the success of “Ghost” is, with Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts, one of the most bankable actresses in the twentysomething range. “I had started out cautiously, tippy-toeing and learning as I went along but, suddenly, I was in deep. When they started taking my credit more seriously, I had to pay more attention so I’d be prepared for other decisions down the line.”

And the crises on “Mortal Thoughts” came fast and furious. The director, Claude Kerven, was fired and Alan Rudolph, with only three days of preparation, stepped in, becoming what Moore calls the film’s “white knight.” When the completion-bond company threatened to pull the plug on the shoot one day, Moore found herself on the phone pleading for more time and money--even offering to pay overtime out of her own pocket. And the shoot had to be completed in 32 days--and come in at under $7 million.

During the filming of “Mortal Thoughts,” which opens Friday, she routinely left home at 7 a.m. and returned at 11 p.m. “I was dealing with scheduling and cost-efficiency--and there was no one to keep me from making too many mistakes. The role of ‘co-producer’ is much more hands-on, less creative than that of ‘executive producer.’ It’s a credit I think I deserved.”

Moore is munching grapes on the couch of her airy modern-and-antique Santa Monica office. Her hair is in short, punky auburn-tipped spikes, and her outfit--a revealing lace blouse and green-knit pants--gives her a look at once blatantly pregnant (she’s due late this summer) and patently sensual.

Making the film did have its compensations. For one thing, her ideas had to be taken seriously. “I’ve had some good experiences,” the 28-year-old Moore concedes in a voice that blends both honey and grit, “but, generally, Bette Davis was right. ‘When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.’ ”

And in a business short on great female roles, “Mortal Thoughts”--the story of two friends (Moore and Glenne Headly) whose relationship and lives are considerably complicated when the husband of one (Bruce Willis) is murdered--contained two.

“I went back and forth trying to decide which character to play,” she recalls. “The other part seemed more interesting, more active. But it seemed a greater challenge to go for the one in which the complexities were more subtle--a challenge increased by the need to do a suburban New Jersey accent. I’d never done a dialect before, like theater actresses such as Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, and the child in me was excited to try it. Another appeal was the intense loyalty between the two women, the love and trust that made it OK to live in marriages that didn’t work. Like a lot of us, they accept the familiar, even if it’s not good . . . and find other outlets that are workable.”

In no way, Moore points out, is this observation based on personal experience. For, the tabloids notwithstanding, the actress’ 3 1/2-year marriage to Willis is seemingly alive and well. There are tender words exchanged during two phone calls during the interview, and Moore talks reverentially about her husband’s “love” and “passion” on the set.

Still, there is a flip side. After they had two of the top films last summer--Moore’s “Ghost” and Willis’ “Die Hard 2”-- their work schedules have made it tougher for the couple and their 2 1/2-year-old daughter Rumer (named after British novelist Rumer Godden) to spend time together in their Manhattan triplex or Malibu beach home. And murmurs linking her career opportunities to Willis more than her talent don’t let up.

“I’m aware where I am compared to Bruce and I see no need to tiptoe around that fact,” she says. “I had a career long before I had the relationship and I trust that, with time, my work will speak for itself. The two of us know this ‘Mrs. Bruce Willis’ thing exists but we try not to feed into it. We don’t pose together on the cover of US. We make choices to maintain our own autonomy. Bruce and I are separated a lot, which is a strain. But, if you want it, you make it happen.”

They worked together on “Mortal Thoughts,” Moore says, not so they could see each other but because Willis identified strongly with the character he plays. “Jimmy is a great-looking, drugged-out, charming guy who never grew up,” she says. Willis, who reportedly gave up his drinking and carousing a few years back, “got to step inside this world again--but safely, so it was exciting. He could dabble, play at the wild life.”

Moore acknowledges that the film has parallels in both of their lives--that she, too, once knew the fast lane. Young Demi (French for half , accent on the second syllable) was a child of divorce who dropped out of high school at 16. After posing for Oui magazine, she proceeded to land a plum role on the soap “General Hospital” at the age of 19. Movie jobs soon followed: “Blame It on Rio” in 1984, followed by “No Small Affair” and the 1985 hit “St. Elmo’s Fire,” which certified her as a card-carrying member of Hollywood’s Brat Pack. Portraying the coked-out Jules in this last film was a professional breakthrough, of sorts--but not that much of a stretch.

“All that is ancient history, though,” Moore says with a touch of annoyance. “Six years ago, I gave up drugs and alcohol and my path has been steady ever since. I just decided I didn’t want to be insecure and unhappy anymore, that I needed to stop hiding and running away. There’s a lot here, and I wanted to be ‘present’ in life--to get a high out of responsibility and achievement instead of altering my mind through chemicals. Motherhood helped. I’ve learned to love without fear of rejection. Some people work better with chaos and self-destruction, but my work is better because I have confidence and clarity.”

Still, the emotional demands of her part in “Ghost” proved daunting at first. Those doubts, along with skepticism about the ability of comic director Jerry Zucker (“Airplane!,” “The Naked Gun”) to pull off a romantic drama, almost caused her to walk away from the role. Once in, however, she fought hard to give her character, Molly, backbone and spunk.

“I’m a perfectionist and like to have a lot of input,” Moore explains. “I won’t go to the director and tell him where to put the camera, but I do ask questions about my character. I’m concerned with the ‘whole.’ I need to have my ideas received as valuable.”

Moore says that the shoot of “The Butcher’s Wife,” to be released by Paramount this summer, had its share of friction. But she is disappointed that director Terry Hughes has chosen to air their dirty laundry in a recent magazine article. “His statement that I find it difficult to take direction was very offensive,” she retorts. “I was fighting to make the movie good, not crying for orange juice on the set. I wasn’t measuring my motor home to see if it was the same size as everyone else’s. My issues weren’t about amenities but about the fact that we saw the story and the character differently. Some directors encourage openness and aren’t threatened by ideas. A few have taken me to another level in terms of my performance. Terry Hughes wasn’t one of them.”

In “The Butcher’s Wife,” the actress is cast as a Southern clairvoyant who marries a vacationing butcher with whom she returns to New York. The role was originally developed for Meg Ryan, who pulled out early on. “Maybe she was the smarter of the two,” Moore says with a cryptic smile. “I think some of her concerns were the same as mine. I haven’t seen the film and I feel a little anxious. But I’ll deal with it.”

After “Ghost,” Moore’s first hit since 1986’s “About Last Night . . .”, business has picked up, she acknowledges. But she’s not being wooed by every prime director in town. “Someone 25 won’t play well opposite a Warren Beatty, a Sean Connery, a Harrison Ford . . . your major-league men. Annette Bening, Michelle (Pfeiffer), Debra (Winger) are more suited for those roles. And, as always, there are too many good actresses to fill the few great roles for women, so you have to go out there and fight--to pay attention and know what’s going on out there.

“I look at Susan Sarandon’s career a lot because she’s made risky, off-the-beaten path choices in films such as ‘Atlantic City’ and ‘Bull Durham,’ ” Moore continues. “If she’d waited for ‘gems,’ she would have worked less--and received far less notice. My goal is to do good work rather than aim for the strictly commercial. I see ‘Mortal Thoughts’ as a small film, though the studio would like it to be another ‘Fatal Attraction.’ I did Dan Aykroyd’s ‘Nothing but Trouble’ because it gave me a chance to do comedy. The movie was a mixed venture and there wasn’t a lot of room in it for me, but I found it liberating. I got to be goofy, like Lucille Ball.”

For the past three years, Moore has had a development deal at Tri-Star Pictures--generating projects through her own Rufglen Films. (It’s named after a fictitious place in a fairy tale her grandmother used to recount.)

“Even if things open up a bit now that female-driven movies such as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Sleeping With the Enemy’ are performing well at the box office, the reality is that you have to generate roles yourself,” she explains. “Katharine Hepburn--one of my favorites--was optioning material in her day. I want to thieve a little from Goldie (Hawn), Sally (Field), Jessica Lange, who’ve successfully produced projects on their own. Their courage and strength and feistiness paved the way for others.”

Moore doesn’t buck the term ambitious nor deny she wants it all. “Who doesn’t?” she asks. “The difference is that a lot of people want things but not everyone is willing to do things to get it. I am. It’s hard walking away from opportunities now, chances I’ve been waiting for all my life. But my personal life keeps my priorities in order and reminds me that work isn’t the fix-all, the be-all.”

Moore is taking time off after the birth of the baby until the beginning of next year. Then a possible plunge into “Leda and Swan”--a female buddy movie in development at Warner Bros.--in which she might be paired with Madonna.

“This pregnancy has been a blessing,” the actress maintains. “It’s given me time to reflect. I want to be doing things for a long time. I don’t have to jump on every wagon. My tendency is to say ‘go, go . . . yippie!’ when things come along and, last year, I was working nonstop. I needed something to slow me down.”