JOHN LEGUIZAMO / ACTOR

John Leguizamo isn’t bugged by the failure of “The Pest.” He’s got too much going on, with a role in the comic book-inspired “Spawn” and parts in “A Brother’s Kiss,” the upcoming “Body Count” and “Dr. Dolittle” (he’s the voice of The Rat), not to mention a one-man stage show, “Freaky,” which opens on Broadway this fall. Leguizamo, 33, divides his time between homes in Echo Park and New York’s Lower East Side.

CLOWNING AROUND: “In ‘Spawn,’ there’s a supervillain, and I’m his messenger, a cross between Danny DeVito and Chris Farley--400 pounds and four feet tall. I spent the whole time crouching. It was painful for the first few weeks, but now I have titanium buns.”

THE PROBLEM: “Big studio movies are giant amusement rides--very little content, and I don’t think they care.”

THE SOLUTION: “Independent films. That’s gonna be the saving grace of American cinema. That’s where everyone can take more chances. . . . We’ll eventually have a few blockbuster movies, a lot of independent films and almost nothing in between.”

LESSONS FROM ‘THE PEST’: “You can’t compromise your vision. I thought it was a collaborative art form, then all of a sudden it’s not your vision any more and it’s a children’s movie. There are great moments I’m proud of, but great moments do not a movie make.”

HOT PROJECT: “Hottest script out is ‘The Ocean Pianist’ by Giuseppe Tornatore, the director who did ‘Cinema Paradiso.’ I went up for it, but he wants [someone like] Andre the Giant, a big guy, ape-ish, but the soul of a genius. I said, ‘How about a sinewy little short fellow?’ ”

NEIGHBORHOOD: “I hate being in the Hollywood ghetto where everyone’s rich and deep into mortgages and Mercedeses. In Echo Park you have Silver Lake and Chinatown and Thai Town nearby, the best of everything where all cultures meet.”

NEW BOHEMIANS: “Silver Lake with all the artists and Village-type people from New York. You see them all at Millie’s or at Cafe Tropical, another great hangout. Everyone goes there for the Cuban sandwiches and sits around.”

TUBE: “The ‘Spawn’ cartoon on HBO is the bomb. The greatest mix of Japanimation and American storytelling. Brilliant.”

ON BEING 33: “The Christ age! I have to do something really big and die--do something big and have all society turn against me and crucify me.”