`GRILLED' TO PERFECTION IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT, ROLL THE CAMERAS.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

CHATSWORTH - The film script calls for heat. Brain-numbing, saline shower-inducing heat. Summer heat as only the San Fernando Valley can deliver.

And the weather gods have obliged. The mercury has climbed well past 90 degrees by 11 a.m. as registered on the thermometer sitting on producer John Klane's chair. Which is placed in the shade.

``Grilled,'' currently in production, is a dark buddy comedy about a pair of meat salesmen desperately trying to meet a quota in the San Fernando Valley on the hottest day of the year.

Off-screen chums Ray Romano (``Everybody Loves Raymond'') and Kevin James (``The King of Queens'') star in the film for New Line Cinema. It is due out next summer. Valley location shoots have been filmed this month during some of the hottest days of the year.

``In Encino, where I live, it's supposed to be 15 degrees hotter than over the hill,'' says Romano. ``I thought it couldn't get any hotter than where I live. Here in Chatsworth (one of the locations where the film is being made), you can bump it up 10 more degrees. But it's good for what we're doing.''

Actor Kim Coates offered his own gripe: ``We were shooting a bit of a barbecue scene the other day on my patio. Look at my clothes. Am I out of my mind? Who thought of black!''

Coates plays a guy named Tony, whose character he describes this way: ``I love steak and I love guns and I love women, not necessarily in that order.''

A hurried 30-day shoot was designed to accommodate James (who was just concluding a movie) and Romano, both of whom have TV schedules to return to at summer's end. The quick shoot and in-town convenience permitted the filmmakers to, er, beef up the character roles with performers like Burt Reynolds, Juliette Lewis and Michael Rapaport.

Romano and James spent some time with a real meat salesman, conducting a ``meat and greet,'' if you will.

``There's a great guy named Sonny who is the best salesman in California,'' says Romano. ``We had a meat-ology class with him and I kind of took things from him for my character.''

``Grilled'' is set in the Valley. According to director Jason Ensler and producers Andrew Sugarman and John Klane, the Valley was the ideal setting.

``Because the Valley's a place where you're stuck,'' says Ensler who previously directed the Martha Stewart movie, ``Martha Inc.,'' for NBC. ``There's no escape unless you climb, which is what our guys do at the end of the movie. Metaphorically, they get out of the Valley. They get to the top of the mountain.''

Even from the panoramic view of an upscale hilltop home in Chatsworth, there's not a mountain in sight.

The shooting locale of Tony's house - which has also been used for portions of the cable shows ``Six Feet Under,'' ``Entourage'' and the film ``Swordfish'' - will be used for nine of the 30 days. Location manager Greg Lazzaro likes it because, in addition to meeting the scenic requirements, a nearby industrial park allows for the crew's trailers to be stashed, so the few neighbors are minimally disturbed.

The crew has also done its ``Grilled'' work at Babyland in Woodland Hills, at a nearby Big Lots, at various homes in Van Nuys and North Hollywood and along San Fernando Road under the I-5 for a night driving sequence.

``Grilled'' also has the distinction of being the last film to shoot at the historic Perino's restaurant on the Westside.

Homes weren't hard to find, says Lazzaro. Knock on any five doors in your typical Valley neighborhood and chances are you'll find at least one person with industry ties or a willingness to open doors to a film crew.

``Our icon was the average, everyday Valley house, like what you'd find over by Valley College,'' says Lazzaro. ``Your kind of one-story, ranchy houses with the gold-leaf mirrors and untouched and unrenovated kitchens. For the exteriors, they like that fake rock stuff a lot. That's very popular.''

Inside Tony's house, Ensler calls for ``Action!'' and a bearded and sharply dressed Ray Romano slinks down a hall, pulls a gun on an unsavory type and gets into a stand-off situation. James' character soon joins the action, disarming Rapaport. Lewis and Sofia Vegara (``Chasing Papi'') look on.

``I'm a girl who is pretty much drunk the entire time we see her on camera,'' Lewis, an Oscar nominee for ``Cape Fear,'' says during a break. ``Which is a very funny thing to play. She's one of these girls that the gourmet meat salesmen meet. She's in the middle of a crisis so she's been drinking and it makes for good comedy.''

Lewis, who grew up in Woodland Hills, is accustomed to sweaty days.

``This reminds me of all my youthful summers, 105 degrees,'' she says. ``Film crews are a tough bunch. They're used to working against the elements.''

Adds producer Sugarman: ``We've let the actors look sweaty in scene. We're about as Valley as you can get in a movie.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Ray Romano as ``Maurice'' and Kevin James as ``Dave'' star in New Line Cinema's upcoming comedy ``Grilled.''

(2) Hot Valley weather stars along with Ray Romano and Kevin James in the comedy ``Grilled.''

Ron Batzdorff/New Line Productions