WALTZING `MATILDA,' DEVITO STYLE : VETERAN ACTOR-DIRECTOR SAVORS HIS SLEAZY CHARACTERS, BUT YOUNG CO-STARS SEE RIGHT THROUGH THE GRUMPY FACADE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

Danny DeVito is waving a cigar, explaining how hard it was to direct a classroom full of rambunctious children for his latest movie, ``Matilda,'' when the film's star, Mara Wilson, enters the room.

She and a friend crawl all over DeVito, picking his pockets and cackling uncontrollably.

``What're you doing?'' DeVito mock protests. ``Look at this, see? Now tell me, you direct 20 of these in a movie. And people say, `How come it took you so long to shoot ``Matilda?'' ' ''

The girls kiss DeVito and take off, laughing joyously, leaving a pretty good indication of just how he handled all those kids. Children see right through his curmudgeonly screen persona, which goes all the way back to ``Taxi's'' Louie De Palma and continues through his ``Matilda'' portrayal of Harry Wormwood, quite possibly the world's most negligent father. And they love the not-so-big kid behind the grumpy facade.

The DeVito effect is especially heartwarming in 9-year-old Wilson's case. The young actress, who first came to prominence in ``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' and was showcased in ``Miracle on 34th Street,'' recently lost her mother, Suzie, to cancer. Earlier in the day, she seemed on the verge of tears as she gamely struggled to promote her new movie.

But in DeVito's presence, Wilson became playful. And according to him, the secret to directing kids is encouraging that side of their nature.

``The whole idea is to lay down the law and set the rules: There's a time for playing and a time for work,'' says DeVito, himself the father of three. ``And we did that, they played. They knew that this was a goof. But it was still hard.''

``Matilda'' is indeed one of the goofier children's movies in recent memory. Like ``James and the Giant Peach,'' ``Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'' and ``The Witches,'' it's based on a book by the late Roald Dahl. And like many of the British writer's stories, ``Matilda'' is packed with surreal satire and dark themes that could be considered far more adult than childlike.

In the movie, Matilda is the second child of the crass, used-car-selling Wormwoods (DeVito and his real-life wife, Rhea Perlman). A genius, Matilda starts reading books at an early age and develops telekinetic powers, all while her bingo-obsessed mother and lemon-unloading father remain oblivious to her gifts.

When she finally convinces her folks to let her go to school, Matilda encounters an even worse authority figure, the monstrous, sadistic principal Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris). But she also meets Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz, of ``Schindler's List''), the first adult who understands her passion for knowledge.

In the course of the film, Miss Trunchbull hurls children over fences and force-feeds one boy (droll newcomer Jimmy Karz) gargantuan slabs of chocolate cake. Combined with the Wormwoods' general lack of parenting skills, this presents a fairly harrowing set of circumstances for bright little Matilda to overcome.

``This ain't `The Little Princess,' '' DeVito admits. ``But I made this picture for my kids; they loved the book and I basically had to get their approval on everything I did. Early on, someone at a studio read the script and said, `You're not really going to throw a kid over a fence, are you?' But if I'd taken that out of the movie, my kids would rebel. I don't think I'd be able to go home. That's, like, something that had to be in the movie.''

While he definitely wanted to make a picture that amused adults, DeVito feels ``Matilda'' is fine for most children, too.

``Adults can absolutely get overprotective about this kind of thing, although I think it's good to direct your children and be the monitors of what they see,'' he says. ``Every kid is different, but I think those between the ages of 6 and 14 are going to go ballistic over the picture.

``We found the book really empowering and exciting,'' DeVito adds. ``It had great parts for Rhea and I: these parents from hell we could play, have a great time and explore all the darkness.''

DeVito admits that, regardless of how much kids love him, he's always been attracted to the darker side of human nature. And his body of work certainly reflects that.

A onetime hairdresser from New Jersey, DeVito drifted into experimental theater as a young man, appearing in an acclaimed stage version of ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' among other productions. When his good friend Michael Douglas produced a multi-Oscar-winning film version of the mental hospital allegory in 1975, DeVito got his first major movie exposure.

Years of ranting as ``Taxi's'' nasty dispatcher, coupled with a juicy villain role in Douglas' action movies ``Romancing the Stone'' and ``Jewel of the Nile,'' established DeVito as Hollywood's master of meanness. And while he could also play the occasional sweet loser (``Terms of Endearment''), the vast majority of his acting jobs - in ``Ruthless People,'' ``Tin Men,'' ``Twins,'' ``Other People's Money,'' ``Batman Returns,'' ``Junior'' - were delectably unsavory characters.

Jersey Films, DeVito's production company, has also found spectacular success with the dark-hued crime capers ``Pulp Fiction'' and ``Get Shorty''; the outfit's next release, ``Feeling Minnesota'' in September, is a grungy, sometimes violent tale of losers in love starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz. And Jersey's ``Fierce Creatures,'' which reunites the ``Fish Called Wanda'' gang, has just gone into reshoots after American test audiences found its humor too dark to be funny.

But DeVito's most intriguing psychological shadows can be found in the films he directs. His first feature, ``Throw Momma From the Train'' (1987), was pretty much about what the title indicates. ``The War of the Roses'' took a comedic look at homicidal resentment between spouses. ``Hoffa'' - well, if there hadn't been a scene in which the labor leader mentioned he'd miss his wife in prison, we never would have known he was married.

And now, this bad parenting primer. Does DeVito have some unresolved issues about family?

``It sort of balances,'' says a laughing Perlman, the multi-Emmy-winning ``Cheers'' star who's executive producing her own new sitcom, ``Pearl,'' for the fall television season. ``If he didn't have that outlet, I think I'd be in very big trouble.

``The family thing is really important to us; we both spend a lot of time with our kids,'' she adds. ``It's a priority we just make time for.''

``People ask me why I gravitate toward these reprehensible characters like Louie De Palma and Sam Stone, who wanted to kill his wife in `Ruthless People,' '' DeVito says. ``It probably has something to do with the family I came from. My mother and father stayed together for 50 years and they probably shouldn't have. I love them, they cared for us, but they lived in their own world.

``I don't know, I really can't put my finger on it,'' DeVito says of his fascination with our uglier natures. ``Maybe it's me laying down on the sofa when I read a script, and something happens inside. But I think it's just a coincidence.''

Coincidentally or not, DeVito has a rogues' gallery of creepy characters on tap in upcoming movies.

There's Swackhammer, the evil alien who takes on Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny in the animated/live action ``Space Jam.'' ``This was fun,'' says DeVito, who provided the voice for the cartoon villain. ``It's this really ballistic, bombastic, crazy guy.''

For Tim Burton's all-star alien-invasion movie ``Mars Attacks!'' DeVito plays a Las Vegas gambler who couldn't care less. ``That was a blast! I had a great time,'' he says again. ``I'm big-mouthed, I don't care about the Martians blowing up things. So what, it's the end of the world. Stop watering the drinks!''

In ``L.A. Confidential,'' based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, DeVito publishes a sleazy '50s scandal magazine. ``He sets people up, blackmails them, he's really a bad guy,'' DeVito says with extreme relish.

And he'll be heard again in next summer's Disney animated spectacular, ``Hercules,'' as the strongman's trainer. ``He's retired; the last guy he trained was that damn Achilles with his heel. Then this guy comes and tells me he's Zeus' son. I can't be bothered. Go on, get outta here!''

DeVito is so enthusiastic about acting nasty, one must wonder if it's all genuine. But when he talks about working with Suzie Wilson, it's apparent where DeVito's heart is really at.

``Mara's mom was with us through the whole filming of `Matilda,' '' he explains. ``She carried this great spirit through the whole thing, even though she was going through a lot of heavy-duty stuff. She and Mara had a wonderful relationship, and she was just a shining light during a film that was very hard to make.''

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Danny's Bright Idea

`Matilda' - DeVito's latest film - was made with his kids in mind

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News

(2) In ``Matilda,'' Danny DeVito plays yet another creepy character as crass used-car salesman Harry Wormwood, quite possibly the world's most negligent father.

(3) The ominous presence of sadistic school principal Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) is among the harrowing circumstances Matilda (Mara Wilson, third from right) must overcome.

(4) ``This ain't `The Little Princess.' But I made this picture for my kids,'' says DeVito, pictured with co-stars Mara Wilson and real-life wife Rhea Perlman.