GILLIAN ARMSTRONG / DIRECTOR

Gillian Armstrong has heard just about every variation on “My Brilliant Career” in reference to her resume since she directed that breakthrough 1979 film. Having helmed pictures from the musical “Starstruck” to 1995’s “Little Women,” the Australia-based director, 47, credits her success to being--like the characters played by Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes in her new “Oscar and Lucinda”--a risk-taker.

BAD OLD DAYS: “Six years ago when we first had the ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ script, there was no interest in period pictures, no interest in films with British or Australian actors, no interest in a story like ours that’s a bit bent, and everyone said, ‘No one will ever accept a film that’s more than two hours long.’ ”

CHANGES IN ATTITUDE: “When ‘Dances With Wolves’ was a hit at three hours, we were cheering. And when Daniel Day-Lewis and Ralph Fiennes became stars and no one cared about the accents, we were cheering. And when ‘Sense and Sensibility’ made money as a period film, we were cheering.”

OUTSIDER: “Sure, if you’re in Hollywood and run into stars in restaurants maybe you can talk them into your next project. But it’s such an industry town. Every time I’m there and read about things someone else is doing I start trembling about everyone doing something and why not me. You can lose perspective that there’s more to the world than films.”

ASCENDING STARS: “There’s a new group of very talented Australian actors. Obviously Cate [Blanchett], and Richard Roxburgh--who’s also in ‘Oscar and Lucinda.’ And there’s Frances O’Connor and Matt Day in ‘Kiss or Kill’ and Miranda Otto in a film called ‘The Will.’ They all hang out together and are really wonderful performers and a terribly sexy bunch.”

MUST SEE: “I’ll be very interested in seeing ‘Snow Falling on Cedars,’ being directed by Scott Hicks [“Shine”], another Australian. He has half my ‘Little Women’ crew and is ready to start shooting in Vancouver in January. It’s Scott’s first Hollywood picture, and Ethan Hawke is starring.”

ONE THAT GOT AWAY: “I regret that I didn’t pay enough attention to and let get away ‘Pushing Tim,’ about the air traffic controllers at Kennedy. Mike Newell is doing that. It’s all boys, mostly about guys, so I’m glad they thought of me.”

TYPECASTING: “After ‘Little Women’ you’d think I could have been in trouble, but I’ve been offered all sorts of stuff, including male thrillers. I’m pleased that people can see you’re just a director and it doesn’t matter what anatomy the actors have in front of the camera.”