FOR SODERBERGH, THERE WAS NO STOPPING 'TRAFFIC'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Nine months ago, director Steven Soderbergh didn't know how he was going to make ``Traffic.'' He just knew that somehow he would.

Star Harrison Ford had said thanks but no thanks, and in turn 20th Century Fox decided they didn't want to spend $51 million on a movie about drugs after all. Soderbergh soldiered on, writing checks from his own account so location scouts could keep working. Meanwhile, he looked for a new actor so a new studio would write the checks when it counted.

Soderbergh's bank account had its limits.

``It was scary,'' he says. ``We were keeping it together with spit and chewing gum. And I understood why people were passing. Show me the drug movies that are making money. Show me the drug movies that are in Spanish for a third of the movie that are making money. I understood all that. That doesn't mean I wasn't frustrated. But I never came out of a meeting saying, 'I just don't understand why they don't write us a check.' ''

Soderbergh finally found his star (Michael Douglas), and in March, USA Films decided to make ``Traffic'' - three weeks before filming was scheduled to begin. Although it's too early to tell if this drug movie will make any money, Soderbergh's film has already earned plenty of critical kudos, which in some eyes (excluding those of accountants), might be the next best thing to gold.

Loosely based on a 1989 British television miniseries, ``Traffic'' - which opens Wednesday in Los Angeles - tells a series of complex, interrelated stories about drugs. In one, a conservative judge (Michael Douglas) wins a presidential appointment to be drug czar only to discover later that his teen-age daughter (Erika Christensen) is hooked on heroin.

Meanwhile, a Mexican policeman (Benicio del Toro) fights drug runners and accompanying temptations along the Tijuana-San Diego border. In San Diego, undercover DEA agents (Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman) bust a wealthy drug baron (Steven Bauer), which means that his pregnant wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) must now cope with debt and angry associates.

Soderbergh filmed the movie in several far-flung locations, including the border town of Nogales, Mexico, and a desert airstrip in Las Cruces, N.M., as well as a variety of locales in San Diego, Cincinnati, El Paso and Washington, D.C. Several scenes feature the cast interacting with actual DEA agents and Washington politicos like U.S. senators Barbara Boxer and Orrin Hatch.

To give it a documentarian's sense of realism, Soderbergh also shot the movie himself and estimates that about 60 percent of the footage came from a (pretty steady) hand-held camera. (In the credits, Soderbergh used the pseudonym ``Peter Andrews'' for his cinematography credit.

The New York Film Critics Circle recently named ``Traffic'' best picture, and Soderbergh has won directing honors (for this and ``Erin Brockovich'') from critics in New York, Los Angeles and the National Board of Review.

On Thursday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave ``Traffic'' five Golden Globe nominations, including best dramatic picture and best director for Soderbergh. It also received nominations for supporting actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, supporting actor Benicio Del Toro and the screenplay by Stephen Gaghan.

Ironically, Soderbergh is nominated twice in the directing category of the Golden Globes - for ``Traffic'' and ``Erin Brockovich'' and the two films face each other in the dramatic picture category.

Whether Oscar voters will honor ``Traffic,'' however, is a thornier question. The film is certainly not an uplifting tale and offers no easy (or preachy) answers concerning America's war on drugs.

``What we do with drugs is something everyone has an opinion on, and that made it really easy for us not to preach,'' Soderbergh says. ``The issue is so complicated ... you'd be an idiot if you made a film where you said, 'This is the answer.' This isn't apartheid. It's not that simple.''

Adds Douglas: ``Everyone who sees the movie comes out of it with a different reaction. We screened it for the DEA and U.S. Customs and they're happy with it, believing it shows how tough their job is. Other people see it and think the message is that the war on drugs is futile. That's why I like it. The movie has the courage to raise issues.''

Douglas, though, initially didn't like the movie enough to sign on when the part was offered to him. At least, that's the official version of the time line. Soderbergh came to Douglas and he passed, believing the drug czar character was two-dimensional and mostly reactive. Ford then considered the script and made some suggestions to improve the character, but ultimately decided to walk away.

``It was too dark,'' Ford says. ``I liked the material, but I just couldn't see myself doing it coming off 'Random Hearts.' ''

So the part bounced back to Douglas while Soderbergh was scrambling for studio financing. Douglas at the time was engaged to Zeta-Jones, who had joined the cast and encouraged him to do the same.

``I looked at the script again and I went, 'Boy, stupid me,' and jumped on,'' Douglas says.

Looking at the script is not exactly a quick read. Screenwriter Gaghan spent several years writing, researching, revising and writing some more, turning in a 165-page screenplay that was still too long. Along the way, the 35-year-old Gaghan admits to experimenting with drugs himself in order to truthfully write about the appeal of narcotics.

``I haven't thrown my life away over it,'' Gaghan says.

But then, he has a theory about that.

``I think that about 7 percent of the population, one in 13 people, has addiction issues,'' Gaghan says. ``It seems like that percentage has been pretty steady for the last couple of thousand years. And I think that if you're one of the 12 of 13, then you're golden. Go drink your beer, smoke your pot, snort your line of cocaine on the weekend. You're fine. But then there's that one (of the 13) who can't stop. And it destroys them.''

Douglas went into rehab for alcohol addiction in 1990 and his oldest son, Cameron, has been arrested for drug possession and has struggled with addiction since his teen years. Those experiences, Douglas says, jibe with the stories in the movie.

``It can happen to anybody, not just the dysfunctional family or the liberal family,'' Douglas says. ``It's heart-wrenching, and it's something that you wouldn't want to deal with. But you have to.''

Soderbergh, after saying that there are no easy answers when it comes to drugs, does believe that the problem is essentially a health issue.

``Everyone will tell you, especially in law enforcement, that treatment and education work,'' Soderbergh says. ``You would think that would be a simple thing. But the problem is the policy makers have done such a good job of demonizing drugs and abstracting for the public the people who use drugs that it's difficult for them now to backtrack and say, 'Hey, you know all that (stuff) we said about how people who use drugs are the devil? Well, it's not really true. They're human and they need help.' ''

Gaghan says he sees the public's attitude toward drug offenders shifting, citing California's recently passed Proposition 36 (which sends some drug offenders to treatment instead of prison) and the state's much-challenged medical marijuana initiative as examples.

``The social costs are too great to continue this war on drugs,'' Gaghan says. ``It will be over in 20 years.''

Soderbergh isn't so sure.

``What I hope is that the film can fill a vacuum of discussion on the issue,'' he says. ``Drugs are something that everyone has a connection with in one way or another. And yet there's this deafening silence politically, especially this year, ironically, in an election where you had two drug-using presidential candidates who won't talk about it. I think you have to talk about it. And I hope this movie starts the discussion.''

CAPTION(S):

10 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 5 -- cover -- color) `Traffic' Jam

Controversial topic, all-star cast, far-flung locations intersect in Steven Soderbergh's hard-won depiction of drug wars

(6) ``Show me the drug movies that are making money,'' director Steven Soderbergh, left, with Michael Douglas, says of the risky nature of his new movie ``Traffic.''

(7) Catherine Zeta-Jones discusses her role as the pregnant wife of an imprisoned drug lord with director Steven Soderbergh.

(8 -- 10) ``Traffic's'' talented cast includes Erika Christensen and Topher Grace, left; Dennis Quaid, above; and Michael Douglas and Amy Irving, right.