NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER / ACTRESS

Although she’s the daughter of the late Natalie Wood and screenwriter Richard Gregson and stepdaughter of actor Robert Wagner, Natasha Gregson Wagner, 28, doesn’t view acting as her birthright. Instead, it’s a passion she’s pursuing in indie roles, including that of a junkie in Larry Clark’s “Another Day in Paradise” with James Woods and Melanie Griffith.

LATE BLOOMER: “As a child it was absolutely not an option to even consider acting. My mom never had a childhood, and it was one of her great sadnesses. One of her most important wishes was that my sister and I [have] a normal childhood.”

ROLE MODELS: “Melanie [Griffith] was very brave to take this role. That was Jimmy’s [Woods] vision, as it was his vision for me. My character was written as a Puerto Rican prostitute, and I was, ‘Why does James Woods think I was right for this?’ But he was so compelling. He could be president.”

MAINSTREAM MOVE: “I just did a film called ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ that’s more mainstream than what I usually do. It’s about four friends covering up a murder. It’s not like I won’t do mainstream movies, but what seems to affect me when I read scripts is gritty.”

ENHANCEMENTS: “I know who Neve Campbell and

Jennifer Love Hewitt are, but not all the variations on

them--the constant influx of padded bras. I wore a padded bra in ‘Urban Legend.’ First thing the costume designer

said was, ‘It’s all about padded bras on this show.’ ”

CONNECTIONS: “I’d love to work with Todd Solondz. One of my great friends, Jesse Peretz, knows him a little. I tell Jesse all the time that I need to work with him.”

LITERARY MINDED: “I really admire about Winona Ryder that she developed ‘Dracula.’ Obviously she reads and finds stuff for herself. Jesse and I are always talking about books we could make into movies.”

PAGE TURNERS: “I read ‘Light Years’ by James Salter. Don’t know if it would make a great movie. Not sure ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ would make a great movie, though it’s a great book. ‘Beloved’ is one of my favorite books, but I didn’t see the movie because I wanted to keep my vision of it.”

SCRIPT SEARCH: “ ‘Requiem for a Dream’ by Darren Aronofsky, who directed ‘Pi,’ is a great script. And the script for ‘American Psycho’ is really good, being made by Mary Harron. Those are two I’ve really been attracted to.”