Whatever

JAMES WOODS / ACTOR

A true actor’s actor, two-time Oscar nominee James Woods has a lot of irons in the fire, working alongside Clint Eastwood in “True Crime,” which opens Friday, and John Travolta in the upcoming “The General’s Daughter,” and currently filming Oliver Stone’s football flick “On Any Sunday” in Miami. Meanwhile, Woods, 51, has projects lined up as a producer, writer and director in addition to acting.

PUNCH LINES: “Clint has been a friend for years, golf buddy and so on, and he had seen in me qualities that most people don’t see, since most of my stuff is pretty serious. He said, ‘You’re a funny guy. It would be great to get you into a funny role.’ It was terrific having quick-paced dialogue with Clint and Denis Leary.”

MAN WITH NO FUSS: “On a scale of 1 to 100, Clint is a 105 as a filmmaker. No noisy assistant directors walking around with their walkie-talkies. . . . He knows what he wants and we get it with little aggravation--the most efficient and most fun.”

DOESN’T WANT HIS MTV: “To work on this and see a straightforward, well-told, well-shot yarn where the story unfolds in a classic way was terrific. After 10 years of TV commercial directors making films where everything is obscured by fast cutting and five different film stocks, it’s refreshing to have a story and not an MTV infomercial.”

GENERATION NEXT: “Had this delicious experience with Sofia Coppola doing ‘Virgin Suicide.’ Had a suspicion that she’d be a good director, and she turned out to be one of the best. Subtle sense of performance, a delight.”

READING LIST: “I’ve read a script called ‘Trailer Park Casanova.’ Sofia sent it to me. It’s something I’d love to do with Bill Macy and Jessica Lange, if they’d do it. Difficult script, but with a good director, someone like Sofia with that sense of humor, I’d consider being attached.”

GENERATION NEXT II: “Natasha Gregson Wagner [with whom he worked in Larry Clark’s “Another Day in Paradise”] is one of the most remarkable young women I’ve met. She’s going to be an important figure in the film business. Espouses all the values that seem to be in jeopardy these days--morality, compassion, responsibility.”

BUSY BOY: “I’m working on two projects, both of which I’ll direct. ‘The Shrine of Altamira,’ I’m working on that screenplay. Always loved the book, by John L’Heureux. And working with my friend Edgar Scherick on ‘The Lost Battalion,’ from World War I, for me to star and direct.”