OFF-CENTERPIECE : MOVIES : Think They Fought the Urge to Call It ‘Hollywood’s Funniest Home Video’?

How did director Robert Altman persuade more than 60 Hollywood celebrities to do cameos in “The Player,” his delicious send-up of Hollywood?

He just asked.

“He called and said, ‘I need an icon,’ ” says Rod Steiger, who appears in a party scene. “I said, ‘That makes me feel like a dinosaur,’ but it was fun. They had a buffet. We ignored the camera and went about our business.”

“I don’t know how he approached other people,” says Scott Glenn, who appeared in Altman’s “Nashville.” He stars with Lily Tomlin in a movie being filmed in “The Player.” “He didn’t say it was a cameo or something special. He said, ‘I want you to be an extra in the movie.’ I was flattered.”

“He said show up and be yourself,” says fellow partygoer Marlee Matlin. “I didn’t ask any questions of him.”

Anjelica Huston said she jumped at the chance to appear in a lunch sequence at a Hollywood watering hole, filmed at the now-defunct Le Restaurant on Melrose Place.

“It was one of the nicest days of working I have ever had,” she recalls. “I wish they were all like that. It was a nice scene because we were in a pretty outdoor situation in a restaurant. We had a lovely lunch.”

Michael Tolkin, who wrote the screenplay based on his novel “The Player,” says Altman decided to use real celebrities because “we wanted to make it as lifelike as possible. We had some party scenes and Altman wanted real actors in the background.”

Jeff Goldblum, who worked with Altman on “California Split,” “Nashville” and “Beyond Therapy,” says the director caught the actors being themselves by using several cameras. “Everybody does the whole scene and you don’t know if the camera is on you or not. I didn’t know if it was on me or not.”

“He did have two or three cameras there,” recalls Mimi Rogers, who appears at a gala Hollywood party that was filmed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “When I saw myself in the movie, I didn’t even know he was filming at that point.”

Teri Garr, who also pops up at that party, says Altman “set things up. He asked everyone to wear black-and-white or black.” Everyone did--except Cher, who showed up in a flashy red gown. The black-and-white crowd was shocked, but Garr later heard that Altman asked Cher to wear the dress. “He had this all calculated. It was very funny.”

Altman asked his extras to improvise their scenes. Buck Henry recalls he simply was told to pitch a movie idea to studio executive Griffin Mill, played by Tim Robbins. Henry, who co-wrote “The Graduate” screenplay, pitched “The Graduate II.”

“(Altman) said, ‘What are you going to do?’ I said, ‘Let me surprise you.’ But it wasn’t much of a surprise by take eight.”

Glenn recalls Altman gave him and Tomlin very little direction. “He said, ‘Lily, if it feels good, be a little bit of a prima donna, and Scott, you don’t really care about this project. (The production) stiffed you on your per diem. And don’t parody yourselves, let me do that.’ ”

Andie MacDowell, though, found it difficult playing herself. “I was slightly intimidated by everybody,” she says. “I am still in awe of so many people in the business. It was fun, but I was also nervous.”

The actors say they all wanted to appear in “The Player” because they adore Altman both as a person and as an artist. (All the actors worked for scale and their salaries were donated to the Motion Picture and Television Fund.)

“You kind of just fall in love with Bob,” says Tomlin, who received an Oscar nomination for “Nashville.” “There is something menschy and human about him. People buy into the fact he has survived so long and thumbed his nose at the system, even though he does it in a kind of menschy way.”

“He is still the American director,” says Elliott Gould, who starred in Altman’s “MASH,” “The Long Goodbye” and “California Split.” “I am his actor. His vision of America is still like no one else’s.”

Glenn says Altman is “still the youngest and most irreverent director I have ever worked with. It is just fun to be around someone like that.”

Paul Dooley, who has appeared in Altman’s “A Wedding,” “A Perfect Couple” and “Popeye,” says Altman “literally likes to make movies. Altman movies are a bit of a party.”

For Louise Fletcher, doing her bit in “The Player” was “burying the hatchet” with Altman; the two had a falling out after “Thieves Like Us” and hadn’t talked in nearly 18 years.

“I think it was a mutual gesture that he called me and asked me to do it,” says Fletcher, who is featured in a movie-within-a movie sequence. “I got my feelings hurt. I was supposed to be in ‘Nashville.’ I never really understand what happened. (But) enough is enough, I guess.”

And then there are those who aren’t in the movie.

“I was at a party recently and Meryl Streep was there and saw the movie. She said, ‘How come no one called me?’ ” Garr says. Fletcher adds, “It seemed like everybody else in town was going to be there, so I didn’t want to be the only one not asked.”

What did the players think of “The Player”?

“It’s sooooo cool, sooooo funny,” Garr says.

Huston believes that among movies on Hollywood, “The Player” ranks with Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful.” “This is a pretty ferocious take on it,” she says. “I would say it is not unfounded. He is very perceptive and very funny about it. It’s sort of a healthy commentary.”

He enjoyed it, but Buck Henry has one misgiving.

“What will they think in Des Moines?”