SWEET 'DREAMCATCHER' WITH A STEPHEN KING STORY FIRMLY BACK IN SCARY TERRITORY, ITS DIRECTOR AND STAR REVEL IN THE HORROR OF IT ALL.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

What is Lawrence Kasdan doing up to his directorial elbows in aliens, special effects, military conspiracy and the kind of pile-it-on gore that only Stephen King could create?

Uh, turning over a new leaf?

More like sampling a new dish, says Kasdan, who points out that before he became legendary for directing sensitive weepfests like ``The Big Chill,'' ``The Accidental Tourist'' and ``Grand Canyon,'' he wrote the screenplays for ``Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and ``The Empire Strikes Back.''

``If people know me, they know I'm always trying to do something new,'' says Kasdan, 54, whose latest film, ``Dreamcatcher'' opens today. ``I've always wanted to do an effects film, and I love creature features.''

There are certainly elements of ``Dreamcatcher,'' both the novel and the film, that suggest Kasdan is indeed working in familiar territory. Adapted from King's 2001 novel - the author's first since suffering a debilitating car accident - ``Dreamcatcher'' has mucho male bonding among a group of guys who have been friends since childhood. The story deals with fear, a subject that all of his films tackle, according to Kasdan. As with ``The Big Chill,'' Kasdan looked to cast ``Dreamcatcher'' with a core of actors who ``will be movie stars,'' but aren't yet. Morgan Freeman is the film's starriest name.

But nowhere in a previous Kasdan film like ``Mumford'' or ``French Kiss'' will you encounter alien weasels that burst lethally out of people's backsides, obsessive alien hunters or characters entering their own brains to take files out of a ``memory warehouse.''

``It's a creature feature. It's not 'The Big Chill' - I've done those pictures, and I'm sick of them,'' says Kasdan. ``You can see I embraced the silliness. (The movie is) pretty far overboard from the get-go.''

And, yes, Kasdan can identify with King's depiction of a memory warehouse and was determined to bring the concept to the screen.

``When I read that concept in the book, I thought, 'Well that's exactly how I see my mind. It's too crowded, and it's full of crap. It's got all of my past injuries, slights and insults, and every review that was bad,'' the director says. ``They're all piled away there, and you'd really like to burn the whole place down.''

Basking in the balmy spring weather at a Century City hotel, Kasdan and his cast were in chipper moods recalling the sub-freezing weather in British Columbia (which doubles for King's native Maine), the occasionally grueling stunt work (Tom Sizemore tore a leg muscle filming a scene) and the fact that they all took part in a Lawrence Kasdan horror movie.

Most of the principles admitted to never reading the novel on which ``Dreamcatcher'' is based. Or else they only read up to the part where their character ... well ... you know.

``No offense, Mr. King,'' says co-star Jason Lee. ``I'm lazy.''

In the pantheon of King movies (which now number approximately 67,000), there are the personal stories without a hint of the supernatural (``Stand by Me,'' ``The Shawshank Redemption'') the character-driven hybrids (``The Green Mile,'' ``The Shining'') and the all-out otherworldly romps. ``Dreamcatcher,'' which was more than 600 pages upon publication, falls into the latter category. Flatulence plays a key role, and a key early scene takes place in a bathroom with a character clinging to his life while sitting on a toilet.

A quartet of friends, played as adults by Lee, Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis and Timothy Olyphant, rescue a mentally challenged boy named Duddits and end up with special telepathic powers. These powers come in rather handy when an alien invasion breaks out in the woods of Maine while the foursome are on a hunting trip. Freeman plays the deranged Col. Abraham Curtis, a military man bent on the eradication of aliens - even if it means wiping out human populations to get the job done. The screenplay was written by Kasdan and frequent King adaptor William Goldman (``Misery'' ``Hearts in Atlantis'').

King, who is reportedly hands-off when it comes to his movies, has gone on record as liking the film version of ``Dreamcatcher,'' even though Kasdan and Goldman managed to compress an episode-laden 600 pages into a two-hour screenplay.

But like it or hate it, King tends to leave the people running the cameras to do their work in peace.

``He's either learned, or else he's been this way from the beginning,'' Goldman says of King. ``He has nothing to do with the movies or the TV movies. He'll answer questions and he'll talk to you, but for the most part he'll stay away because he's a novelist.''

Goldman - who was working on a draft of ``Dreamcatcher'' before Kasdan signed on - was sold on the project for one reason: the character of the victimized Duddits Cavell (played by Donnie Wahlberg as an adult). ``I'd never read him before,'' says Goldman. ``I thought he was so moving. Pretty much everything you do when you do a King adaptation is King. He's so fertile, and you need all the help you can get when you're a screenwriter.''

An Oscar nominee for ``The Shawshank Redemption,'' Freeman came aboard because, among other things, he appreciated being cast against type. The 65-year-old actor, who has played the president of the United States and will play God in the upcoming ``Bruce Almighty,'' in this project takes on a fanatical lunatic who possesses a lot of power.

``You can't play characters that you don't empathize with. You're winking at the audience if you do,'' says Freeman. ``I empathize with this guy greatly. He's very serious about his work, even messianic.

``Normally it's more fun to play the bad guys,'' he continues, ``but sometimes it's more fun to play the guy who's going to get the bad guy.''

``I knew he would be receptive to playing someone who had gone around the bend,'' adds Kasdan. ``He's been stuck playing God-like characters because he's such an awesome figure, and people tend to use him for his benevolence.''

King fans will recognize the author returning to territory he has covered many time before. Heroic acts as children, check. Reuniting as adults to face the demon anew, check.

There have been persistent rumor that the author, now 55, was contemplating retirement. In fact, King has simply admitted - without apology - that he has told the same story many times before and is keeping up the trend.

``He's so free and open about it, and he doesn't edit himself constantly,'' Kasdan says of King. ``That freedom allows him to be so prolific.''

King makers

When studios are remaking movies of your horror novels into TV movies and miniseries, you're doing something right.

That's right, remaking. For Stephen King, it's happened at least twice. ``Carrie,'' the first King novel to be filmed, was initially a feature by Brian De Palma in 1976. Some 25 years later, it was a TV movie for NBC. ``The Shining'' morphed from a 1980 Stanley Kubrick film with Jack Nicholson to a 1997 miniseries with Stephen Weber and Rebecca de Mornay.

Factor in the endless sequels, spinoffs and continuing series and you'll see that filmdom truly is King. The author even tried his hand at directing, helming the deplorable ``Maximum Overdrive'' in 1986.

Many of the best filmed Kings are the product of Castle Rock Entertainment, producers of ``Stand by Me,'' ``Misery'' and the all-time King box-office champ ``The Green Mile'' which grossed $136 million domestically and earned four Oscar nominations.

A selection of King films worth seeing:

1. ``Carrie'' (1976): The one that started it all. Don't nobody mess with scary Sissy Spacek.

2. ``The Dead Zone'' (1983): An early Christopher Walken showcase. He plays a man who can see the future, directed with expert creepiness by David Cronenberg.

3. ``Stand By Me'' (1986): Yeah, it's gooey and the barf-a-rama goes on too long, but its heart is definitely in the right place. Featuring a very young River Phoenix and Kiefer Sutherland. Directed by Rob Reiner.

4. ``Misery'' (1990): Reiner again directs, with Kathy Bates earning a much deserved Oscar. ``Mr Man!''

5. ``It'' (1990): This four-hour TV miniseries was thematically similar to ``Dreamcatcher'' - only in 1990, the idea was fresh.

6. ``The Shawshank Redemption'' (1994): perhaps the best of the lot. Nothing scary in this period prison drama with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

7. ``Dolores Claiborne'' (1995): Neglected gem by Taylor Hackford with Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh as mother and daughter.

- Evan Henerson

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Fevered 'Dreamcatcher'

With Stephen King firmly back in scary territory, the new film's director and star revel in the horror of it all

(2) director Lawrence Kasdan, above

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(3) Damian Lewis, left, Thomas Jane, Timothy Olyphant and Jason Lee in ``Dreamcatcher.''

(4) Tom Sizemore, left, and Morgan Freeman hunt for body-invading aliens in ``Dreamcatcher.''

(5) no caption (Stephen King)

(6) no caption (scene from ``Carrie'')

(7) no caption (scene from ``Stand By Me)

Box:

King makers (see text)