BRUCE WILLIS and Emma Heming (Photo by PRPP)

LOS ANGELES – Bruce Willis confidently walks into the room and then gives us his famous side smile. He is in a good mood.

The 55-year-old actor, whom we interviewed in New York for the action-comedy “Red,” had only one pet peeve – flash photography. But other than that, the interview went smoothly and Bruce candidly talked about his children, being a father, his new young model wife Emma Heming and being “very happy” at this stage of his life.

Bruce, who has three daughters with former wife Demi Moore, disclosed to us, “My favorite book is ‘Sophie’s Choice’ because it is about loving your kids and what you have to do because I think of myself as a father more than an actor. Acting is what I get to do for fun and I’m much more serious about being a father than I am about doing anything else.”

We told the award-winning actor that his co-star, Mary Louise Parker, mentioned to us in a separate interview that she was really impressed with him and how he is a very good father and a good family man. We asked him about his relationship now with his grown up children.

“If you think that I’m fortunate to be acting and to be able to be in these films still, I feel like I’m fortunate that my kids still want to talk to me,” he said and laughed. “That my kids still want to hang around with me, want to go out and eat with me, do things and call me is just amazing. I call them up too and because I know a lot of people don’t have that kind of relationship with their kids, I feel really blessed that my kids still talk to me.”

He told us how being married again has changed his life.

“I’m happy all the time. It’s really difficult to get me unhappy,” he revealed and laughed. “I get cranky if I’m away from home too long but my wife travels with me so it’s just great. I never thought I would get married again. I never imagined I could be as happy as I am now. I can’t look forward and say, ‘Someday I’ll be happier than I am even now.’”

We met Emma at the after party of the premiere of the Robert Schwentke-helmed “Red” in New York.

And they do make a lovely couple as they walked in, hand in hand and smiling at the Lambs Club in the Chatwal Hotel following the screening at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

“Red,” which is about a group of “retired and extremely dangerous” former CIA agents who find themselves become targets as well, also stars Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich.

It is loosely inspired by the three-issue comic book limited series of the same name that was created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.

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When we talked to the lovely and glamorous “Queen” Helen Mirren, she confessed that she got star-struck working with Bruce.

The 65-year-old award-winning actress admitted, “There’s Bruce Willis action movie star, and there’s Bruce Willis wonderful character actor. I’ve always admired both Bruce Willis’s and when you walk into a film that has that kind of a star in, I’m always star-struck. Honestly, I’m star-struck and it’s intimidating but Bruce was so welcoming and so generous and made all of us feel one after another important to him that we were there. He welcomed us and when that happens, an atmosphere comes on the set so that’s the first thing.”

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Morgan Freeman, the very reserved and cool 73-year-old actor who has portrayed God and Nelson Mandela in his past movies, was very relaxed, teasing and even naughty during our interview.

When we asked him what he wanted to do during the coming holidays, he said, “I have a wonderful 44-foot boat in the Caribbean and I’d really like to get to her.”

A female colleague followed up on that and asked if he was going to “live it up” on his boat in the Caribbean now that he is divorced.

Morgan teasingly replied, “Are you married?” He added, “Yes I am absolutely in a new chapter in my life but I’m not extremely dangerous. No, I am not dangerous at all. As a matter of fact, I’m very safe. So if you’ve got some time…”

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The petite and charming Kristen Bell whom we interviewed for the movie, “You Again” revealed to us that she really enjoyed her high school days because she felt “I had no responsibilities.”

Kristen said, “I did a lot of theater in high school which I loved. Being on stage for me in high school was facing that fear of standing up on a stage and being judged by people. Obviously, I am still seeking an adrenalin rush today. I did have a really good time. I went to a very small parochial school in Michigan and there was no cliché bully. So a lot of people did get along well and high school is just fun because you did not have any responsibility.”

“You are just forming who you are as an adult,” she continued. “I am still close to my high school friends and I recently reread all my notes from high school because I just turned 30 and my best friend brought a bunch of notes to me that I had written her. They were just horrible notes on who we should date. I had notes like, ‘We should date Jim because he smells good’ or ‘We should date Rob because he’s got a car.’ I definitely was a late bloomer. I had not even had my first kiss by the time I was writing out who we should be marrying.”

Directed by Andy Fickman, “You Again” is about a young woman, Marni (Kristen), who discovers that her brother is about to marry Joanna (Odette Yustman), her high school rival. She sets out to expose the fiancee’s true colors and the plot thickens when Marni’s mother Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) meets up with Joanna’s aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) who was also former high school rivals.

Asked where she gets her positive energy, Kristen replied, “Green tea, my friend! I’m a caffeine junkie so I like my caffeination. I try to do it in a healthy way because I do read a lot about what’s good for me and green tea I’ve found is the best way to do it. I am also happier when I keep a positive attitude. If I let myself take on a negative attitude, it would be a very quick spiral downward and I would lock myself in my bedroom. So every morning when I wake up, I make a decision to not let things affect me and that I am going to stay positive regardless because that’s the choice I am making. I refuse to let things get to me because it’s a slippery slope.”

Formerly a Manila journalist, Los Angeles-based Janet Susan R. Nepales is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

E-mail the writer at jrnepales_624@yahoo.com for your comments or questions.