FROM OBSCURITY TO 'THUMBSUCKER' LOU TAYLOR PUCCI RELATES TO CHARACTER.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

``Stop acting.''

Perhaps the best piece of professional advice given to Lou Taylor Pucci was an instruction that, on the face of things, doesn't sound like something anybody in show business would want to hear.

But when writer-director Mike Mills told Pucci to ``stop acting,'' he didn't mean Pucci should torch the monologues and head shots and concentrate on a day job - any day job. No, actually Mills was dispensing audition advice to help Pucci win a much-coveted role in a rather controversial film - a part once earmarked for Elijah Wood, no less.

Once Wood had outgrown the role of Justin Cobb, the title role - wayward digitally fixated hero of Mills' film ``Thumbsucker'' - was up for grabs. In bringing the adaptation of Walter Kirn's novel to the screen, Mills estimated he had already met some 100 young actors before bringing Pucci to L.A.

In Pucci, whose only previous film credit was the Rebecca Miller film ``Personal Velocity,'' Mills instantly liked what he saw.

``He came through the door and he was really nervous, which again made me excited because, OK, this isn't someone who is professional and wearing a mask and being slick and all that,'' recalls Mills. ``His first take was horrible, and I was totally crestfallen. I told him to stop acting, and he nailed it. It was a sort of 'meant to be' type of thing.''

``That's why we got along so well,'' agrees Pucci. ``Him understanding made me just go, 'OK, I can be calm and do this - and just be.' That's probably why I got the part: because I understood what he meant by 'stop acting.' ''

So Pucci stopped acting. Then he started again, and something went right. His performance in ``Thumbsucker,'' only his second film role, has earned the 20-year-old New Jersey native acting honors at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival. He has since filmed roles in the HBO miniseries ``Empire Falls,'' and in the upcoming independent films ``The Chumscrubber'' and ``Fifty Pills.''

And that doesn't exactly, er, suck for a guy whose previous credits had included one movie, a Broadway show and a bunch of semi-professional theater productions. Pucci had never even stepped on an airplane prior to attending that L.A. ``Thumbsucker'' audition.

``For some reason, I got really lucky, really fast, in a lot of things I did. I'm never going to not say that,'' says Pucci. ``You can't plan anything like this. You can't plan 'Thumbsucker' to do well. You can't plan to be on Broadway at age 12. But it happened, and I went with it.''

In ``Thumbsucker,'' he shares the screen with heavy hitters like Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn and Benjamin Bratt. Keanu Reeves even turns up as a new agey orthodontist who hypnotizes Justin out of his thumb-sucking habit. Suddenly at sea, Justin turns to drugs, sex and the school debate team in an effort to find his bearings.

``I could relate to him so easily and truthfully,'' says Pucci. ``I was leaving home for the first time, and (Justin's) about to leave home. He has a weird and good relationship with his parents, and I have a weird and good relationship with my parents. I take relationships way too seriously, and that's exactly what he does. Coincidentally, the similarities were relatable. It's so damn lucky.''

The son of a former model and a rock musician, Pucci was ``bribed'' into trying out for a community theater production of ``Oliver!'' at age 10. Two years later, he joined the Broadway cast of ``The Sound of Music,'' with Richard Chamberlain and Rebecca Luker.

Even then, at age 12, Pucci was wondering whether he had peaked. ``I was like, 'Man, I hope this isn't the best part of my life,' '' he says, laughing.

Spend some time with Pucci, and you quickly get the sense that he never strays far from the sparkings of his own cerebellum. Candid and rarely self-editing, the 20-year-old actor talks quickly, spins off into philosophizing at the most conversational of questions and is given to statements like, ``Normal's a pretty scary place, but above normal is really interesting,'' and, ``I tend to spout (expletive).'' When he describes something as being ``sick,'' he means it as a compliment.

Even this conversation we're having constitutes a slight out-of-body experience for Pucci, who finds himself weirded out at the sudden interest in him.

``It's almost like I'm turning a piece of me off,'' he says. ``When I talk about myself, it rarely feels like I'm actually talking about me. It's almost as if I'm talking about some fictional character. I've had to answer too many questions. When I look back on it, I say, 'Man I'm just an egotistical (expletive). I haven't listened to anybody in such a long time.' ''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Before his ``Thumbsucker'' audition, Lou Taylor Pucci had never been in an airplane.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer