GARRY MARSHALL / DIRECTOR

Director-writer-actor Garry Marshall’s sister Penny was a Whatever guest last year. But this time the subject is “The Other Sister”--not a family relation but his film starring Giovanni Ribisi and Juliette Lewis, which opens Friday. Marshall, 64, who created “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley,” next re-teams with his “Pretty Woman” pair Julia Roberts and Richard Gere to direct “The Runaway Bride.”

WHAT LIGHT: “I said [to Lewis], ‘I watched you in a lot of gut-wrenching things, young lady. Do you have any desire to get a laugh, a chuckle, anything?’ She said, ‘Yes! That’s why I’m coming to you.’ This is a heavy part, but with humor, and . . . she has a little lightbulb in those eyes that can light it up.”

INNOCENCE MISSION: “[Mentally challenged] people are not seen as funny in the movies of the week. Working with the people we were basing the story on, these people were funny. Great sense of humor. But the element missing from them is sarcasm. To do humor without sarcasm, the great crutch of humor, was challenging.”

SCRIBES: “The two girls who wrote ‘The Runaway Bride,’ Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon--there were 112 writers on that, but these two wrote the original script--are quite good. I’m working on a project with them now with my son, Scott Marshall, who’s also an up-and-coming director.”

SENTIMENTAL FOOL: “I do like sentiment. I call it emotion. Sentiment is a negative word. They say, ‘Sentiment means manipulative.’ S and M go together. They call it ‘dramedy.’ I call it ‘not just craziness.’ Get emotion and a story. If I move them, well, they call it manipulative. If I don’t, they call it, ‘Go home, Garry.’ ”

WORDS’ WORTH: “The director has to bring some vision, but nothing beats a good script--being a writer and director myself. Studios get nervous, doing all those rewrites. They think writers dry up. I don’t think so. Studio executives dry up. They just do all the rewrites for protection.”

DYNAMIC DUO: “Richard Gere and Julia Roberts certainly have the chemistry. Can’t put that on paper and say, ‘Have chemistry, folks!’ They are cute as a button.”

RIOT ON THE SET: “I’m trying to direct, and it comes out on a list of the most popular actors of all time, dead or alive, [Roberts] is the top woman. We had fun with that. ‘Will the dead or alive person get closer to the couch or else she might as well be dead because we can’t see her in the shot?’ ”