But D'Onofrio is a movie star, though not as a result of good looks or sex appeal. Rather, the 41-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-born actor has talent on his side. That, and a gift for selecting plum roles. His film career began when his pal Matthew Modine hooked him up with Stanley Kubrick for a part in "Full Metal Jacket." You may recall D'Onofrio as the hapless Gomer Pyle, the inadequate Marine recruit who ends up killing his sergeant and himself. There were also bit parts in major films like "JFK," "Malcolm X" and "The Player," but it was his leading role as novelist Robert E. Howard, creator of "Conan the Barbarian" and "Red Sonja," in "The Whole Wide World" that put him on the map.

Now D'Onofrio's in the catbird seat with starring roles in two new films that open Friday: "The Cell," a brilliant horror/sci-fi flick in which D'Onofrio plays a serial killer whose cerebral cortex becomes the war zone wherein he and Jennifer Lopez do battle; and "Steal This Movie," a disappointing examination of yippie leader Abbie Hoffman's life. D'Onofrio portrays Hoffman in the latter, his performance rescuing the film from its TV movie format. But D'Onofrio's performance in "The Cell" really blew me away, and that's mainly what we talked about during an interview earlier this week in Los Angeles.

What was it like playing a serial killer in "The Cell"?

It was tough. It was something I was reluctant to do because there have been performances about serial killers in the past that have done pretty well. I figured society pretty much knows enough about serial killers by now. But then I met the director, Tarsem Singh, and his vision won me over. Basically everything in that film is because of him. The actors did their work and brought things to it. But in the end that film is the way it is because of Tarsem.

I thought it was a good chance to take. I've taken chances before in my career, so I figured I'll take this one, what the fuck, you know? I just kept it out of my mind that you'll never be able to top an Anthony Hopkins performance, so don't worry about it. It's like playing someone who's mentally impaired now ever since Billy Bob Thornton did "Sling Blade." You can't touch a performance like that. It's like "Streetcar" after Brando. It's dead.

Your performance in "The Cell" seems deliberately low-key. Was that part of some plan to make your character, Carl Stargher, sympathetic?

The serial killer was down, but you've got to remember we had allowances, because once you're in his head everything is wide open. So that was Tarsem's and my choice.

About the sympathetic thing, if we had had it our way, there would have been no pity at all. I'm totally against that. I hate the idea of bad guys walking away at the end of movies -- because I have a family and stuff. It just bothers the shit out of me.

But we had to keep on course so we didn't do this entirely different movie. What we had to keep in mind is that we're not trying to redeem him, we're trying to define his psychology. The only chance to do that is showing him when he's a child and revealing his evolution as a human being, what he grew up to be because of certain circumstances.

There's an intense scene in the film where Stargher's suspended over a dead, naked woman by steel rings that are pierced into his skin. Can you describe the filming of that?

It was uncomfortable. A body double shared half the pain with me for all the wide shots. I had to do all the closer stuff. You're harnessed up, and prosthetic skin is glued to your skin. You're hoisted up by cables hooked to a harness beneath this fake skin. I mean, it's not digging ditches or anything, but it's not the first thing you want to do in the morning. Actually, in the photos of people who do that, their skin stretched a lot farther than we stretched it. They wouldn't allow us to stretch the skin any farther.

Was that scene cut?

Yeah, they cut it down so it's really just hinted that he's masturbating, rather than showing it. Not that we show any frontal nudity or anything. But I went through the act where my arm comes around, goes over my penis, working into the orgasm -- all that was in the original scene. And then the orgasm itself, they wouldn't allow it. So Tarsem had to snip, snip, snip and just kind of hint at it.

Why do you think people are fascinated with serial killers?

It's like why people read scary books or go see scary movies. Because it creates a distance. They're scared, but they're not going to get hurt. It's the same reason why people get S/M prostitutes to come over and whip them. They know at the end of the evening they're not going to die. It's just a kink. Some people have it. It leans toward being pathetic, but it's still human.

Yet it is somewhat pathetic because they know they're not going to be murdered. They're going to pay the prostitute; she's going to do her job and spank them or make them run around in a diaper with a snorkel. Then at the end of the evening, they're going to go home, cuddle up to the wife and be nice and safe. It's the same thing.

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