JESSE PERETZ / DIRECTOR

Jesse Peretz once played bass in the Lemonheads. Now he’s directed his first feature, “First Love, Last Rites,” a low-budget indie from a story by English writer Ian McEwan. In between, Peretz, 30, has paid the bills doing music videos (the Foo Fighters’ Mentos ad spoof, “Big Me”), the cabdriver spots for MTV, and commercials. He’s now working on a script about a singer obsessed with ‘50s French chanteuse Francoise Hardy.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: “I have no interest in entering the studio system, and if this was my concept of how to do that, I made some bad choices. I certainly don’t think this film suggests that kind of career.”

LITTLE GUY: “Ian McEwan is one of the top writers in England, and his agent did not have time for this little deal for a story from his first collection. But it worked out in the end. And I’m really happy for the time it took. It forced me to make the script better.”

STAGING GROUND: “Doing videos and commercials, you learn about the tools, but you don’t learn anything about directing actors. I freaked out in the year before I made the film realizing that, so I stopped and directed plays, and it was the most important thing I did for preparation.”

DAY JOB: “One reason I’m really happy to have a commercials career is I don’t have any expectations of making the big film paydays any time soon. Things I’m interested in don’t deliver that kind of lifestyle--or even make anybody any money.”

FLUKE: “There’s the odd Hollywood movie, like ‘Out of Sight,’ that I totally enjoy. That’s really good filmmaking in every way. I guess if somebody were to hand me that script and say, ‘Do you want to direct this?’ I would.”

RISING STAR: “I really loved Lisa Cholodenko’s film ‘High Art.’ She’s really smart. We were at the Jerusalem Film Festival recently and hung out a bunch. I think she’s going to be one of the important directors in the next 10 years or whatever.”

THE GOOD FIGHT: “I’m really psyched to see Todd Solondz’s film ‘Happiness.’ He made ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse.’ October Films just had to drop the new one because Universal said it was too risque. I hand it to October, which chose to drop it as opposed to forcing him to cut it.”

ROCK ON: “People dedicate themselves to being in a rock band and then it dries up. They have everyone kissing their butt, picking them up in limos. And then in two years, nobody [cares] anymore. It’s hard going back to a coach seat and standing in line for a taxi with everyone else.”