COUNTING KISSES 1) COLIN FARRELL, 2) CHRISTIAN BALE, AND STARDOM MAY BE NEXT FOR `NEW WORLD'S Q'ORIANKA KILCHER.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Three years ago, Q'orianka Kilcher was serenading shoppers along Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, singing songs like ``My Heart Will Go On'' and ``Mary Had a Little Lamb,'' and clearing $2,000 on a good night.

Today the 15-year-old Kilcher (first name pronounced Core-ee-AHN-ka, and if the last name sounds familiar, her second cousin is singer Jewel Kilcher) doesn't need to sing for her supper, having snagged the role of Powhatan princess Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's ``The New World.''

It's Kilcher's first movie, and given the singularity of both the part and the project, she might never have it so good again. (Think of Patrick Fugit in Cameron Crowe's memoir ``Almost Famous.'') Or it could be an auspicious beginning for an ambitious teen who'd also like a career in singing. (She promises no more Celine Dion covers.)

Finding Kilcher - whose father is Peruvian and mother is Alaskan/Swiss - was tricky. Malick and producer Sarah Green conducted the usual scour-the-earth casting search, needing to unearth a young woman who could convey both the innocence and vitality of the fledgling Pocahontas and the heartbreak that came later in life. After meeting Kilcher and spending a couple of weeks with her to surmise whether she could withstand the pressure of a long shoot, they offered her the part.

``They were asking her to embody the spirit of America, so you don't put that on somebody's shoulders lightly,'' says Colin Farrell, who plays John Smith in the film. ``Having watched her, I think she can do anything. She has soulfulness that goes way beyond her years.''

Adds producer Green: ``When we saw her on film, moving silently, we saw the mystery that we always envisioned in Pocahontas.''

We recently unraveled a few mysteries with Kilcher on the morning of her ``New World'' premiere. ``The New World,'' which had a 10-day academy run beginning last month, opens nationally Jan. 20.

How to make $2,000 a night at the Third Street Promenade: ``To tell you the truth, I just sang 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' 10 times in a row and kept the audience. I don't know how. Just bare your whole heart and put your soul in it. It probably helped that I was 8 years old and had that Shirley Temple thing going on.''

How to be happy living in a motor home for a year: ``When my family moved here from Hawaii, we bought a motor home with the idea of driving to Oklahoma. On the way out of Los Angeles, the whole steering wheel shaft flew across the freeway, and our car just stopped. We had them tow us back to downtown, and that's where we lived for a year.

``It was me, my mom, my mom's boyfriend and my two brothers, one of whom was a baby at the time. It was a big adventure and a gypsy thing in a way. We'd go on the bus to the Third Street Promenade and come back and all snuggle up together, watching TV until the battery ran out.''

How to work with Terrence Malick and go through adolescence at the same time: ``It was definitely an emotional roller coaster. It would be 6 in the morning, and Terry would tell me to go out and splash freezing cold water on my face to put me in the right frame of mind. Or go to a fennel field and run barefoot where there were all these prickles and things. Yeah, I would love to do it again because I feel like I lived an entire life already just to portray Pocahontas.''

How to make your first - and second - kiss a memorable one: ``What 14- year-old wouldn't want Colin Farrell as their first kiss and Christian Bale as their second? It was fun. It was exciting. It was scary. I admit, on the day of that kiss, I was like, 'Oh my God!' And it's there on film.''

How to keep perspective during awards season insanity: ``I don't want to walk around in a $10,000 dress because I could start a school for that amount of money in Peru, where my people are, a music school or computer school where they could learn how to be lawyers and learn how to protect their land.

``So I just started sketching and making my own clothes with my mom. If I see something I like, I make it myself. I made my own dress for the premiere tonight. Actually, I made four of them. I can't decide which one to wear.''

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

Will the real Pocahontas please stand up?

OK, there are no talking trees or animal sidekicks, but is Terrence Malick's Pocahontas movie, ``The New World,'' any truer to history than Disney's? A comparison: (Note: Contains spoilers)

POCAHONTAS' AGE AND APPEARANCE

``Pocahontas'': Small waist, Asian eyes, toned legs, big breasts. Basically, Barbie in buckskin. As Mel Gibson-voiced John Smith puts it: ``She's a babe.'' She looks to be at least 20.

``The New World'': As played by newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher (who was 14 during filming), Pocahontas is a beautiful child of nature, luminous, full of lip, full of heart.

Reality: Pocahontas was between 10 and 12 when she met John Smith. Her name, translated, means ``playful, frolicsome girl.''

JOHN SMITH'S APPEARANCE

``Pocahontas'': Blond hunk. Voiced by Mel Gibson.

``The New World'': Colin Farrell.

Reality: John Smith was short, had a full beard, wore puffy pants and was, by many accounts, a disagreeably ``ugly'' man.

POCAHONTAS MEETS SMITH

``Pocahontas'': She tracks him; they accidentally come face to face, and it's love at first sight.

``The New World'': She stops her father, Chief Powhatan, from executing him.

Reality: Smith's account of Pocahontas sparing his life is questionable. Some historians believe he simply misunderstood what was actually happening at the time.

POCAHONTAS AND SMITH

``Pocahontas'': The colors of the wind help the two listen with their hearts and bridge the cultural gap that separates them. For Pocahontas, John Smith is the Mr. Right of her dreams.

``The New World'': Ethereal, mostly wordless longing as Smith and Pocahontas approach each other with the curiosity of cultures whose collision is inevitable.

Reality: Romance very unlikely. Pocahontas later married Englishman John Rolfe after being captured and held hostage by Jamestown colonists.

- G.W.

`The New World,' minus 15 minutes

In a DVD era awash in directors' cuts where filmmakers go back and lengthen the theatrical version of a movie, it's unheard of for a director to decide to lop off 10 percent of his film before it has even left theaters.

But that's what Terrence Malick has done with his latest movie, ``The New World.'' The film that opened in Los Angeles and New York on Christmas Day and played in three theaters for 10 days will not be the version of the movie that arrives nationally next Friday.

Malick has trimmed 15 minutes from the run time of the film. He made the decision, according to a New Line spokesman, while he was assembling a version of the film for DVD. Malick has final cut on the movie.

Will the 150-minute ``New World'' be seen again? The New Line publicist said your guess was as good as his, noting that the reclusive Malick - who has made only four films in his 32-year career - might well have yet another version, this one longer, for the DVD.

In the meantime, if you want to see the 150-minute ``New World,'' track down a member of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy members received the full-length cut on DVD screeners mailed last month.

- G.W.

CAPTION(S):

9 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) She's 15, starring in a movie and kissing Colin Farrell - it's... Q'orianka's new world

(2 -- 3) Life has changed considerably for Q'orianka Kilcher - who spent a year living in a motor home and singing on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade - since being cast as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's ``The New World.''

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(4 -- 6) no caption (Pocahontas)

(7 -- 9) no caption (John Smith)

Box:

(1) Will the real Pocahontas please stand up? (see text)

(2) `The New World,' minus 15 minutes (see text)