TALKING SHOP(PING) LIFE ON THE SET OF 'UPSIDE OF ANGER' IS A GIRL THING.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

``The Upside of Anger'' can be pretty good fun.

At least according to three of the young actresses who played daughters to Joan Allen's furious abandoned homemaker, Terry Wolfmeyer, in the movie.

For Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Evan Rachel Wood, bonding on the bitter comedy's British location was like finding a new set of sisters - and without all of that combative stuff that goes on between real-life siblings.

``I have three brothers, so the fact that it was a low-maintenance group of girls was good,'' says 22-year-old Christensen (``Traffic,'' ``Swimfan''), whose headstrong Andy Wolfmeyer makes her mother wish the girl's age-inappropriate boyfriend's head would explode. ``On something like this, you just understand from the beginning that you have to get close.

``Remember, like, the first day of rehearsals?'' she says to Wood, whom she's known since they met in acting class a decade ago. ``We gathered around you and were all, 'Tell us about your boyfriend!' We were, like, such annoying big sisters.''

``I grew up with brothers, too, and I've always hung out with guys more than girls,'' says Wood, 18, who's made a career out of playing troubled adolescents in the likes of ``The Missing,'' ``Thirteen'' and TV's ``Once and Again.'' ``So I was a little worried. But I knew Erika, so that really helped. And Keri is just, like, the coolest chick in the whole world.''

But there must have been sisterly strains. How about the scenes in which Wood's Popeye, the youngest of the four Wolfmeyer girls, tries to get a reluctant boy to make out?

What would be the big deal? He was played by Christensen's own little brother, Dane.

``I was, like, 'Dude, go for it!' '' the lad's big sister insists. ``But maybe it was inconsiderate of me to come and hang out when they shot those scenes.''

``No! It was great!'' Wood insists. ``I totally don't mind, and I thought it was hysterical.''

Of the three participating in the group interview (Alicia Witt, who is working overseas, played Terry's oldest daughter, Hadley), Russell is the only one with a real-life sister. She helped inform her co-stars on same- sex sibling dynamics.

``It's definitely a different relationship with a sister than with a brother,'' says Russell, 28, best-known for her starring role on TV's ``Felicity.'' ``My sister and I, we always share a bed on holidays, which you sure can't do with your brother. And little things, like I'll do up her hair, girly things like that. I don't do my brother's hair. So this was fun, and Alicia, who is not here, was very much in on that.''

Some girls had more fun than others, though. In the film, Russell's Emily, who wants to be a ballerina, argues with her more-pragmatic mother the most. Ergo, while the other girls were checking out London's attractions, Russell was relearning rusty dance skills.

And that wasn't the only thing to be mad about.

``The thing about point shoes is, you have to have calluses,'' Russell explains. ``So at first, you get blisters, they break off and you bleed; it's this process. I came in so late in the game that I just had to dance bleeding through my point shoes, which was not enjoyable.''

Not that she's complaining. If anything, Russell appears to enjoy the mass giggles and easy group hugs with her reunited movie sisters as much as the other actresses do.

``I've gotten the biggest life lessons I've learned from bad situations,'' Russell says, summing up the movie's philosophy. ``You learn from mistakes and things that make you angry.''

And while extracurricular activities involved Jamaican street fairs and crazy nights in Indian restaurants, the actresses agree that, for all the rancor in director Mike Binder's script, the work was the real blast.

``It was nice to play a sane girl for a change, nice to have this sweet film to balance everything out, because everybody thinks I just go for extreme roles,'' Wood says, then has it pointed out to her that she's probably the only person who'd call such a caustic piece of work sweet. ``I mean, it's got a lot of dark stuff and sad stuff in it, but, at the end of the day, they all have each other,'' she clarifies.

``I had fun with my girl, because I love that she really doesn't worry about what faults she might have,'' Christensen says. ``She just goes with it. 'This is me, take it or leave it. I'm going in this direction, you can't stop me.' And I admire that, at a certain point, she can reevaluate what she's doing and maybe change things a little bit.''

The best parts of all, though, seem to have been the unstructured moments just grooving on what sisterhood is all about.

``Instead of hanging out in trailers or something, we all hung out in the attic of the house where we shot,'' Christensen recalls. ``We'd go up there and listen to music, eat biscuits and just talk, lay around and just be comfortable with each other. It was really fun.''

Topics of conversation? Everything except the fact that they were actresses pretending to be sisters.

``Music, movies, boys,'' Christensen recites. ``But I don't think we really talked shop.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) GIRLS CLUB 

Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen and Keri Russell stick together for `The Upside of Anger'

(2) Keri Russell, left, Evan Rachel Wood and Erika Christensen - who portray sisters in ``The Upside of Anger'' - say they loved the close-knit atmosphere on the set.

(3) Joan Allen, center, plays an abandoned homemaker and mom to four daughters, including Keri Russell, left, and Erika Christensen, in the film, which opens today.

in the film, which opens today.