AS BOSLEY, BERNIE FITS THE BILL.

Byline: - Glenn Whipp

For those of you keeping score at home, Bosley is now a brother.

In a nice bit of casting (even if they don't make the most of it), comedian Bernie Mac has taken over the shepherding duties from Bill Murray in the ``Charlie's Angels'' sequel. The movie explains the switch by saying that Mac and Murray are actually the Brothers Bosley (albeit ``brothers from another mother''), coming from the same family in South Central Los Angeles. There's even a portrait of Murray on the wall when Mac's Bosley returns to the 'hood.

Switching Bosleys wasn't accidental. Out of all the rumors of trouble on the first ``Angels'' film, the one story that was more fact than fiction pertained to Murray's clashes with his co-stars, particularly Lucy Liu. So when the time came to make a sequel, Murray wasn't asked to return, not that he would have had the offer been made.

Drew Barrymore explains the difference between Mac and Murray by saying that Murray is a perfectionist who won't rest until a scene is better while Mac is more comfortable improvising on the fly. Translation: Murray couldn't abide being in a movie with no real script and no real direction and made no bones about expressing his displeasure. Mac, on the other hand, recognizes ``Charlie's Angels'' for what it is - pop (culture) tarts going kung-fu crazy - and makes the best of the opportunity handed to him.

Says the 44-year-old Mac, who considers Murray a genius: ``You just have to go in and do it. When I went in first, it was a hit to the gut. 'You want me to be Bill Murray.' I didn't ask why. I just went home and watched 'Charlie's Angels' three times. And when I saw Bill for the third time, I said, 'OK, I can do it.' Because I didn't want to bring anything similar to what Bill did. I had to make them different.

``Basically, I just made Bosley simple. Simple is always funny. Simple is always best. Even in my stand-up comedy, I talk about simple things, things that people can relate with, like relationships with your woman slapping the (stuff) out of you or something else. So I did everything by the book and then (director) McG would always allow me to 'Bernie Mac' it, to do my own thing.

``And I think it's important that I 'Bernie Mac' it. You have to give yourself back. For example, I loved Richard Pryor and when I went to see 'The Toy,' I was speechless. No disrespect to Richard - I was so in love with Richard, I wanted to see Richard. I didn't want to see that. 'Brewster's Millions.' I didn't want to see that. And I learned from that. When the audience comes to see you, you've got to give back of yourself.''

Mac, who will return to Fox this fall for the third season of his eponymous television show, says the Angels - Barrymore, Liu and Cameron Diaz - welcomed him with open arms and tried to include him in all their shenanigans.

``It was always, 'Come over here, Bernie,' '' Mac says. ``That was sweet, but they didn't have to do that. I'm a big boy. I already belong. When they asked me to come, that was compliment enough.''

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Bernie Mac takes over the role of Bosley from Bill Murray in ``Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.'' ``I didn't want to bring anything similar to what Bill did,'' says Mac.