DATE: Sunday, May 11, 1997                  TAG: 9705090080

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

SCI-FI FILM SETS STAGE FOR ACTRESS' BIG BREAK

IT'S BEEN quite a week for Milla Jovovich.

When Luc Besson's $96 million science-fiction fantasy ``The Fifth Element'' opened the 50th Cannes Film Festival in France last week, it was she, not star Bruce Willis, who stole the film. She plays Leeloo, a divine being and warrior who is the symbol of love, the fifth element that is the title - and the only thing that can save the earth from annihilation in the year 2259.

With the film's opening in the United States, she's already slated for major stardom. The heat is turned up on a career that already has been through several high profile stages.

At age 11, she was on the cover of 15 international fashion magazines. Although one of the top fashion models in the world at her young age, she turned to movies and, at age 17, starred in ``Return to the Blue Lagoon,'' a movie that some critics branded ``kiddie porn.'' She had several topless scenes.

At age 13, she bought her first electric guitar and at age 15 wrote the songs for her first album, ``Milla: The Divine Comedy,'' released in 1994 and praised by Rolling Stone magazine. She even defied her recording company in order to things do her way. Rather than record songs written for her - songs that were designed to make her a pop diva - she insisted on recording her own compositions.

``I was a brat,'' the 21-year-old actress said as she peered from beneath her jet-black hair with the cool detachment of a mannequin. Her upper body was clad in a skintight wrap-around garment that looked like a bandage. Her lips sported ruby red lipstick smeared on like a neon glow.

``I probably still am a brat. I was the prodigy of my mother. She wanted me to do all these things, but I wanted to go to Europe and just wear jeans and T-shirts. People talked. I knew I was a brat, but I've grown now. After appearing in this movie, I know my limitations. I know how stupid I can look if I'm not prepared. As a child, I thought I was capable of anything. I was never inhibited. Now, I know better.''

Milla Jovovich was born in Russia. ``This is my real name,'' she said. ``You don't think I would change it to this, would I?'' Her mother was a Russian actress and her father a Yugoslavian pediatrician.

When she was 5, the family moved to Sacramento, Calif., where, in spite of her career, she says ``I found time to hang out at the malls, like all California girls should.''

Sitting in the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, she admits that Besson, the noted French director, initially felt she was all wrong for the part of Leeloo.

``He felt I was too modern. Too chic. Too '90s, and too much like a musician. But then, he took me to London for a screen test. I got the part when he asked me to imagine I was tied up and locked behind bars and I was to show him how I would beg to be released. I begged a little, but I also laughed. I was surprised I got the part. It is a very difficult role. She is both old and young, both strong and weak. And, most of all, we never have sex in the film. Leeloo is above that.''

She is initially seen in the film wearing only a series of straps that look like Band-Aids. In the film she has a childlike, vulnerable likability because she is an alien form who doesn't know the language. She has orange hair with yellow roots.

``Bruce Willis helped me a great deal. He's a hilarious guy, but when he saw me wavering, he'd tell me to step into the light. He'd tell me `You're not in the moment right now. Get with it, or I'm going to give you a slap.' This was very helpful.''

Even though Leeloo is clearly a star-making role, she has no next film commitment. Instead, she's working on her second album. It will be released late this year.

``I am not yet a woman,'' she said. ``I have to grow into that. My models are women like Susan Sarandon, Mary Steenburgen and Lauren Bacall.''

In the meantime, Leeloo, and Milla Jovovich, are likely to become two of the more unique new presences of this movie year. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by COLUMBIA PICTURES

Milla Jovovich, center, co-stars with Charlie Creed, left, and Ian

Holm in the science fiction-fantasy film ``The Fifth Element.'' KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW PROFILE BIOGRAPHY

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