IT'S HIS 'CIDER HOUSE' PARTY HALLSTROM ENJOYING ALL THE HOOPLA.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

``Is that Kate Capshaw?'' Lasse Hallstrom wondered aloud during a mid-afternoon chat in the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge.

It wasn't, but that's not important. What's interesting, and rather endearing, is that Hallstrom, whose ``The Cider House Rules'' is up for seven Academy Awards, including best picture, was rubbernecking for celebrities like an ordinary tourist.

The Swedish director lives in upstate Bedford, N.Y., about midway between his homeland and Los Angeles, and the way he talks about the U.S. movie business suggests a distance from it that is more than geographic.

That distance safeguards Hallstrom somewhat from getting caught in the middle of the debate over whether Miramax Films essentially paid for the ``Cider House'' nominations with its high-gear ``for your consideration'' campaign in the trade papers.

Some industry observers and insiders have complained that Miramax pumped up the volume for its sole serious contender among its few fall releases, bringing ``Cider House'' more attention from Oscar voters than it was due and reaping the rewards in a bouquet of nominations last month.

They blame the same type of advertising effort for Miramax's ``Shakespeare in Love,'' claiming the best-picture award last year over DreamWorks' ``Saving Private Ryan.'' The ``Shakespeare'' campaign has been estimated at $15 million, a figure Miramax says is overblown.

Yes, ``Cider House'' drew positive reviews from major dailies, but it neither hit that four-star pinnacle nor claimed best-picture prizes from critics' organizations. And Hallstrom is not in the running for the Directors Guild of America award this Saturday.

``It would be terrible if this whole marketing (issue), the war between DreamWorks and Miramax, and the claim about the advertising push, is going to overshadow what the movie's all about,'' Hallstrom said. ``I really feel so proud of this film, and I have seen this movie with audiences, and I just know that audiences love this movie.

``The response is so emotional,'' he said. ``People seem so genuinely moved by it. That's the ultimate reward for me as a director, and I think that's the ultimate attraction to this movie - that people are actually moved without getting a bad taste, because the movie is not pushing buttons.

``And to have an advertising campaign sort of diffuse those facts, or soil it - that would upset me if that came into play.''

Would he like to see those Oscar promotional ads go by the wayside?

``I'm not enough of an expert on this,'' he said with diplomatic tact.

On the day nominations came out, Hallstrom said he was looking forward to the pre-Oscar period for the opportunity it affords to relive the pleasure he had making ``Cider House'' with writer John Irving, stars Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine and Charlize Theron, and the rest of the company.

His comments at the time gave the impression that he was genuinely surprised with the best-picture and director nominations (``Yes, I was,'' he said on reflection), and that he didn't really expect to win those categories.

``I don't think we're completely out of it,'' Hallstrom now says, chuckling.

Whether that new-found optimism stems from encouraging word of mouth, Las Vegas odds that put ``Cider House'' at even money with DreamWorks' ``American Beauty,'' or even if Hallstrom himself has succumbed to Miramax's publicity efforts, it has encouraged the 53-year-old director to dive into awards-season mania like never before.

Hallstrom, a former TV director in Sweden who established himself making promotional shorts for the rock band ABBA in the pre-music-video '70s, first came to the wide attention of American moviegoers with ``My Life as a Dog,'' his warm account of a mischievous 12-year-old boy sent to live with relatives in rural Sweden in the 1950s. The Swedish movie garnered 1987 directing and screenplay Oscar nominations.

That year, Hallstrom hung back in Sweden, avoiding the pre-Oscar festivities.

``I was here two days before the awards ceremony, but then again, it was 'My Life as a Dog,' '' he said. ``I could tell those odds were different, so I didn't worry too much about it.''

This year, however, he's working the ballroom circuit, appearing on behalf of his film at assorted functions. On the day of this interview, he had just attended the E Pluribus Unum awards luncheon (``October Sky'' won), and later he would pick up a tuxedo for the Producers Guild Awards that night (``American Beauty'' claimed the top prize).

On Monday, he'll be among the hopefuls at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon, and on March 25 there's the Maggie Award to pick up from Planned Parenthood in Washington for the film's treatment of the abortion issue.

``I'm looking forward to all the fun. I'm going to enjoy it all this time,'' he said.

He wasn't in town just to bask in the ``Cider House'' glow, though. Hallstrom is gearing up for another Miramax film, ``Chocolat,'' set in France in the late '50s and starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina and Hallstrom's wife, Lena Olin. He came looking for a 7-year-old girl to play Binoche's daughter and to fill other roles for the picture, based on Joanne Harris' novel. It begins filming in May in France and England.

After that comes ``The Shipping News,'' a co-production of Columbia Pictures and Miramax of E. Annie Proulx's 1994 best seller about a hack writer who returns to his roots in coastal Newfoundland to write about car crashes and the shipping business for the town's pitiful local paper.

Hallstrom last made waves in 1993 with ``What's Eating Gilbert Grape?'' which brought little-known Leonardo DiCaprio a supporting-actor Oscar nomination. He had a four-year gap between his last project, 1995's ``Something to Talk About,'' and ``Cider House.'' Now he seems to be picking up the pace considerably.

``One of my main ambitions is to work back-to-back the way I did in Sweden, where I made a movie at least every second year, whereas here the business side of it all is still a mystery, and I've been having some projects fall apart or postponed,'' he said. ``But I hope to work continuously from now on.''

Some European directors have become caught up in the appeal of Hollywood - the money, the big budgets, the internationally known actors, the huge audience - leading them far afield from their original work. For example, there is no straight line between Paul Verhoeven's ``Soldier of Orange'' and ``Showgirls.''

``(Ingmar) Bergman, whom I don't know, sent me a letter saying, 'Watch out for the meat grinder of American filmmaking,' '' Hallstrom said. ``So he was very worried that I would be chopped up, which was a nice concern.''

But Hallstrom says his selectivity in choosing projects that appeal to him - the character-driven stories - has kept that from happening to him.

``The others that are plot-driven very often sacrifice characters for plot,'' he said. ``I realize I'm not as interested in telling stories as I am getting caught up in detail and observations of small things, and I end up making all these observations add up to films that are not strong on story but hopefully are strong on other things.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Director Lasse Hallstrom on the Oscar trail with 'The Cider House Rules'

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(2) Heavy D, left, director Lasse Hallstrom and Tobey Maguire during filming of ``The Cider House Rules,'' which has been nominated for seven Oscars. The Swedish director's other films include ``My Life as a Dog'' and ``What's Eating Gilbert Grape?''

(3) 'I really feel so proud of this film, and I have seen this movie with audiences, and I just know that audiences love this movie.'

--Lasse Hallstrom, director, ``The Cider House Rules''