A Different Diane : KEATON TALKS ABOUT HERSELF, FAME, HILLARY CLINTON ... OH, AND HER HBO MOVIE

She comes by herself, she parks her own car, she’s on time. Dressed in a tan khaki pantsuit with a kerchief around her neck, huge loop earrings, and heavy dark shoes, Diane Keaton strides aggressively into the Columbia Bar & Grill in Hollywood. Heads instantly turn toward the famous face behind the large sunglasses, and she seems intent on proving her accessibility. “Hi!” she says, making eye contact with each of the fawning employees.

Seated at a booth, she delves hungrily into a chicken sandwich and French fries and does something she doesn’t do often--talks to the press.

Not about much of a personal nature, mind you, this woman who is so private that even friends hesitate to talk about her, fearful of upsetting her. But Keaton is enthusiastic about “Running Mates,” a new HBO movie in which she not only stars as the controversial fiancee of a man running for President but also plays a key role in bringing the story to cinematic life.

Four years ago, producer Martin Starger showed Keaton the script for the comedy-drama and the two soon delved into development hell. “It started off as a feature and it went the rounds,” explains Keaton, “spending most its time at Paramount. At one point, Penny Marshall was sort of interested, so was John Malkovich. It was always one ingredient away from getting made.”

An entire election cycle came and went, all hope for the film along with it, until early this year when HBO approached Keaton about doing a drama for the cable network. She declined, but then dusted off the old “Running Mates” script. HBO bought it from Paramount, Ed Harris agreed to co-star as the candidate, Michael Lindsay-Hogg to direct, and within months they were in production.

“I really think it’s wonderful it ended up there,” Keaton says. “First, I don’t really ever think any studio would have ever made it, unless someone very powerful--maybe the likes of Geena Davis or whoever the top five (actresses) are now--wanted to make it.”

Keaton is nothing if not brutally honest about her own standing in a business that falls in and out of love more often than (her old flame) Warren Beatty. Call it extreme modesty, or refreshing realism with a dash of Annie Hall insecurity. Keaton doesn’t like judging--or even watching--her own work. (“She wouldn’t go near the dailies,” says “Running Mates” director Lindsay-Hogg.) And she’s taking the self-protective, albeit highly satisfying, step of moving into directing as well.

Not that Keaton ever sees herself giving up acting. “I think I’m an actress primarily, and I hope to always act.” And while she’s keenly aware that she’s no longer in the aforementioned top five, she still comes across enough scripts that interest her. “Running Mates” was one.

“Mostly, I loved the dialogue,” she says, “and I don’t often get a character who’s so opinionated and gets to be the brat of all time. The women I read aren’t usually so colorful and florid and wacky and smart.”

Ultimately, her character--a ‘90s children’s book author with a ‘60s skeleton in her closet--must decide whether to hold back the truth in order to help her candidate mate. (“How was I to know that something I did 20 years ago might one day bring down an empire?” says Aggie, her character.) Likewise, Harris’ character must decide if he really wants her to.

“I also responded to the issue of lying or not lying,” says Keaton, “and choosing to do something for the one you love. I like that problem. I think it’s interesting, exciting and dramatic. And I think it’s just such moral issues that keep us up at night. What would you do if put to a test? Would you step forward and do the right thing?”

Keaton plays down the politics of the script, insisting--here we go again--that she simply doesn’t know enough to qualify as someone even remotely knowledgeable on such subjects. “I was with Warren Beatty all that time and I still didn’t become political,” she points out.

“In a sense I understand Aggie, because she knows nothing about anything,” she says. “What she’s about really is someone who’s extremely isolated but has very high ideals and moral standards. Like a lot of artists, she’s not quite in this world. Then she falls in love with this man who’s all about dealing with people and negotiating with the world.”

The actress may not see the film, or herself, as political, but “Running Mates” does manage to flow right off today’s headlines; particularly in its treatment of an unrelenting press, image makers who succeed mostly in turning minds to mush and policies into cliches, and Keaton’s character, a contemporary woman who never even knew anyone who stayed home to bake cookies.

“I must say, I thought a lot about Hillary (Clinton) while we were making the film,” says Keaton. “She’s quite a gal and I like her. But my character’s different in that she doesn’t know anything and yet she’s an arrogant son of a bitch. Hillary knows everything and she’s usually adept in her arena. Both women are outspoken, though I don’t think Hillary’s as outspoken as she used to be.

“Anytime you go up to battle, you’re crushed,” continues Keaton. “No one understands how upsetting and powerful it is to be in the public eye. It’s not so different for actors. You just can’t imagine how you’re thrown into a tailspin when you get all this sudden, public attention and scrutiny. Usually people aren’t at their best at such times.”

Clearly, Keaton is talking from experience, knowing something about having her moment in the sun. It wasn’t all that long ago that she adorned the covers of every national magazine, won one Oscar and was nominated for another. She gives herself mixed reviews for how she handled the fast track of fame.

“When it all happens to you so fast, you tend to get scared and nervous and you forget how to trust your instincts and make decisions that don’t have to do with the money. I think when it happened to me, I wasn’t even there. I was floating in outer space. There was no question I loved it, but I was terrified. In my case, it wasn’t that I made the wrong moves as much as I probably didn’t make enough moves. Why not? What else was I doing?”

The notoriety and constant press attention clearly made her uncomfortable, and the issue of privacy--dealt with in “Running Mates”--is still something she wrestles with. Bottom line, don’t expect a Keaton autobiography any time soon.

“There’s so much information being shoved at people now because there are too many outlets,” says Keaton. “I do feel there should be restraint about certain things, particularly our romantic episodes. At the same time, I don’t just blame the press because I hate all these public confessions.”

Because of this respect for a celebrity’s privacy--and her own strong sense of loyalty--Keaton has never commented on her friend Woody Allen’s latest troubles (that loyalty was apparent when she told one New York friend simply, “It’s Mia’s fault.”). Keaton has had her own share of celebrated romances, with Beatty, Allen and Al Pacino. For whatever reasons, the public impression of Keaton has been one of supreme self-sufficiency, the Manhattanite of her own mind and style, the Hepburn of her generation. Keaton would respond to most of the above: NOT.

“That’s hilarious! No, I surely wouldn’t sum myself up that way, though I like it. On the other hand, I don’t know if I ever see myself with someone for life. I definitely think you get set in your ways. It’s pretty much a gift to be alive and there are lots of things I enjoy. One is time to myself--but not all my time.”

“Diane needs people and she has a vast array of friends on both coasts,” says New York actress Kathryn Grody, a close friend who has been in two movies with Keaton. “I can see Diane married but he’d have to be aesthetic and a mensch. On the other hand, she has a full life without it.”

Although after this interview Keaton left for New York for three months to shoot Allen’s next film, “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” she feels completely at home, Range Rover and dogs included, in the Hollywood Hills.

“My heart has really always been in Los Angeles. I like the land, I like not having to talk to taxicab drivers. Maybe it’s the old childhood pull.”

Keaton also feels it may be professionally smart to be closer to her industry right now; not so much to dine with Michael and Mike at Mortons, but to spur her still budding directing career (she’s done mostly TV projects).

She’s scheduled to direct her first non-documentary feature--a small film called “Pet People” for Amblin next year. Hers has been an unusual move, since most of her peers have chosen to go the producing route, developing their own material in the constant search for better roles.

“I tried that and I hated it,” Keaton says vehemently. “There’s nothing about me that is produce-orial. To pick up the phone? To close a deal? I can’t close anything!

“I’m not in heaven when I’m directing,” she says honestly, “but I love it. I love that when you’re preparing, it’s all about creating this new world, it’s all visual. Then when you start shooting, it’s about falling in love with the actors. For me, it is not about control.” Keaton insists she does the directing for itself, and not necessarily as something to do while watching Meg Ryan get all her old roles. She is not one to join the chorus of actresses lamenting about the paucity of good parts, and complains only about the complainers: “Yeah, it’s hard to find good roles, so what’s the next step? It’s true there are better and more parts for men but that’s nothing new.”

Yet she admits “next steps” may include taking parts, as she did, in “Father of the Bride” as the rather generic mother. “Let’s face it,” she says, “it was not my most challenging role but, hey, I got paid for watching Steve Martin work. It was also a hit which is good, I guess.”

Because of some of Keaton’s offbeat and gutsy choices following the Oscar for “Annie Hall,” being in a hit is nothing to be scoffed at: “Shoot The Moon,” “Ms. Soffel,” “Reds,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “The Good Mother,” “Interiors” and “The Lemon Sisters” were seen by few, enjoyed by fewer.

“I haven’t been successful with the dramas,” she says. “People haven’t gone to see them. I think maybe they just didn’t want to see me doing serious stuff. Of course, “The Godfathers” were successful but no one even knew I was in them; I was always just the wife.

Only “Baby Boom,” a comedy which served as a mini-comeback for Keaton, was a moderate success: “It made money but it was not a big hit,” she says sarcastically.

Keaton is still extremely attractive, looking fit and chic in the “Running Mates” wardrobe. Yet she concedes she thinks about the aging process ... to a point. “Sure, you worry about what you look like. That’s one reason I didn’t want to see any footage of “Running Mates.” If you’re thinking too much about it, it starts to interfere with the work. You’ve got to trust someone and then let it go.”

Top five lists will come and go, but there will always be those who will continue to love Keaton because, as director Michael Lindsay-Hogg says: “She’s an original. Diane is not a version of anyone.”

“There’s something marvelously vulnerable about her,” adds actor Tony Roberts, who lovingly recalls how he, Allen and Keaton spent hundreds of hours working, playing and eating cheesecake together.

Roberts also recalls how “Annie Hall” was first titled “Anadonia” and was tilted toward Allen’s character. “I remember Woody calling me one day and saying he’d just watched the rough film and discovered that whenever he cut away from Annie, it lost something. That’s the way a lot of us feel about Diane.”

“Running Mates” premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on HBO.