CLAIRE-VOYANT; NOW IN `MOD' MODE, DANES BALANCES FILM CAREER WITH YALE, LIFE IN NEW YORK.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

Claire Danes has always seemed wise beyond her years.

From the unusually self-aware high schooler she played on the ahead-of-its-time TV dramedy ``My So-Called Life'' to the smart, sensitive teens she's created in such films as ``Home for the Holidays,'' ``Little Women,'' ``Romeo + Juliet'' and ``To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,'' Danes has specialized in girls who act markedly more mature than most of the adults around them.

Now, just shy of her 20th birthday, Danes is doing one of pop culture's key kids in a grown-up world. She's Julie Barnes in the big-screen version of ``The Mod Squad,'' that shaggy '60s TV show in which three young hippie types worked for the Establishment as undercover cops.

The movie, which is set on the fringes of contemporary L.A. club culture, stars Danes in the old Peggy Lipton role as a recovering addict, Giovanni Ribisi (``Saving Private Ryan'') as messed-up rich kid Pete Cochrane and Omar Epps (``Scream 2,'' ``Higher Learning'') as cool-but-smoldering Lincoln Hayes. All three characters have traded potential jail sentences for badges (but not guns).

The movie is the latest in a long line of '60s TV retreads, and it opened Friday to witheringly negative reviews. But the perceptive and articulate Danes has good reasons for taking on what she saw as another in a hoped-for continuing series of new challenges.

``It's not the most dramatic turn I've taken,'' admits the waifish blonde, a New Yorker who, at the tender age of 10, began studying at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. ``But it was a really good time. And I think it's important to tackle different genres and explore the boundaries of film.''

Since it was so much a product of its Generation Gap era, many have deemed ``Mod Squad'' impossible to update. But Danes believes that director Scott Silver found a way to make it resonate for today's youth.

``We really focused on the alienation of the characters, which the TV show only briefly touched on,'' she notes. ``I think that's extremely relevant to our society today. People feel very disconnected from each other and are seeking a community that they can feel a part of. These characters find that in the Squad.''

According to director Silver, Danes' very participation was key to creating the ``Mod Squad'' film community.

``When Claire comes aboard, it becomes a different movie,'' he says. ``She's such a classy actress, and other actors really want to work with her. And she's an incredibly gifted actor, incredibly honest, open and natural. She's such an accomplished and mature actress ... And she's been doing this a lot longer than I have, which was intimidating in some sense. But she was great to work with.''

Co-star Ribisi echoes those sentiments.

``She's so beautiful, intelligent and precocious - I just hate her!'' Ribisi jokes. ``No, it was really a pleasure and an opportunity to work with her.''

Most everyone has nice things to say about Danes, the one glaring exception being the Philippine government. After a grueling experience filming the still-unreleased prison drama ``Brokedown Palace'' there, Danes complained to the media about conditions in the island nation. She was subsequently declared persona non grata by the Manila City Council, which also banned showings of her films in the capital.

``I don't want to go there,'' Danes replies when asked about the controversy. ``It's so grim, that whole thing. I don't want to talk about it.''

While that sounds like a typical Hollywood dodge, it's atypical of Danes. She tries very hard to avoid the usual movie star airs and actorly pretensions. Indeed, her biggest fear is becoming cocooned in show-biz hype.

``The most destructive part of being an actress in this business is that you're constantly shielded from spontaneity and real-life experiences,'' she observes. ``You have a really strong team (agents, managers, publicists, etc.) that serves as a pretty impenetrable fortress, and I think that's unfair to a person. It's really easy to become quite stagnant in your life.''

Danes' solution?

``I ditch 'em!'' she cracks. ``I live in New York, I go to school, I have a network of friends who are entirely unrelated to the business. The majority of my friendships are with people like that.''

She makes one major exception to that rule, however. Danes shares her New York apartment with Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee. The couple has been together for two years.

``I'm so in love it's disgusting,'' she jokes. ``My boyfriend's just a sweetheart. He's really funny, he's really smart, and he loves me really, really well. That's a quality that people take for granted; I mean, it's a skill, and not everybody's capable of doing it. I think that's the most critical quality.''

How old is this girl? Under 30, maybe. But under 20?

Not surprisingly, Danes is a freshman at Yale, the alma mater of her friend and mentor Jodie Foster (plans are in motion for Danes to star in Foster's next directing effort, the circus story ``Flora Plum''). When attending classes, she lives in a campus dorm with a roommate. It's all part of her ongoing effort to lead as normal a life as she can.

``I function on campus pretty well,'' she reports. ``People who meet me are immediately disillusioned and are not awkward around me. It's people who are on the periphery of my social world who sometimes behave in strange ways because they're into me or threatened by me.''

Danes also tries to put an anti-egghead spin on her Ivy League education.

``I'm taking a pretty eclectic group of classes. Graphic design, which is my favorite; an English class; child psychology; women's health, which is surprisingly boring; and computer science; and the modern intellectual agenda - fancy title, not so intimidating.''

Most typical of Danes' college experience so far: no time for fancy movie star diets and exercise plans.

``All of my remain-slim routines have gone right out the window,'' she says with a laugh. ``I am so inert! And I consume copious amounts of utter junk.

``But you know, it's been fine. It hasn't had any negative effect on the way I look. I've realized I was unnecessarily neurotic about food and things - because I was encouraged to be. It's important to be in tune with your body; exercise is really critical in being a well-rounded person. But it's important, of course, not to overdo it.''

Those who remember Danes' dead-on perfect portrayal of teen angst in ``My So-Called World'' will be happy to hear that she's outgrown at least one girlish neurosis. This could mean there's hope yet for Ally McBeal, Felicity and all the other popular, self-analyzing TV characters whom Danes' short-lived, pioneering series inspired.

``I'm actually really flattered that all of these shows are somewhat derivative of `My So-Called Life,' '' she says. ``I have actually never seen `Ally McBeal' or `Dawson's Creek' or `Felicity' - I am totally stupid about pop culture, which is pretty ironic.

``I think people were quite untrained to view our show when it came out,'' she adds. ``They weren't accustomed to being so confronted by a show, and it was very demanding. But people still watch it on cable television and video. It's definitely had a trickle effect.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Her so-called life

`Mod Squad' star Claire Danes skillfully balances personal, professional commitments

(2) `We really focused on the alienation of the characters, which the TV show only briefly touched on. I think that's extremely relevant to our society today. People feel very disconnected from each other and are seeking a community that they can feel a part of. These characters find that in the Squad.'

Claire Danes

on ``The Mod Squad''