By Iain Blair

In a not-too-distant future, in a society of genetically engineered people, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is that rarest of creatures: a natural birth.

But although an "In-Valid," as those who are not conceived in a lab, but through love are classified -- and stigmatized -- he has a dream: to become a deep-space navigator at the massive Gattaca Corporation.

Assuming the identity of Jerome (Jude Law), a member of the genetic elite, to pursue his goal, Vincent -- now Jerome -- successfully fools the system, until the mission director is found murdered and a single unnoticed eyelash makes him the prime suspect. Now on the run with Irene (Uma Thurman), a colleague with whom he has fallen in love, Vincent/Jerome is battling to save his freedom and his space-travel dream.

A thought-provoking meditation on the nature of identity and the issue of genetic engineering, "Gattaca" (which opened October 17) is writer/director Andrew Niccol's vision of the future.

Niccol says he was "happily surprised" to sign on such stars as Thurman and Hawke, both of whom were eager to come on board. Co-starring Alan Arkin, Gore Vidal, Ernest Borgnine and Loren Dean, and produced by Jersey Films' Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher, the team responsible for the hit "Get Shorty," "Gattaca" also teams Niccol with such distinguished crew members as director of photography Slawomir Idziak ("Bleu"), production designer Jan Roelfs ("Orlando") and editor Lisa Zeno Churgin ("Dead Man Walking").

Not bad for a first-time director who says that he got the job, "partly on the strength of the material, and partly because I insisted on directing -- and maybe because business affairs made a terrible mistake and thought they were getting Mike Nichols."

Niccol needn't be so modest, for "Gattaca" is an accomplished debut from a man who admits that the biggest shock of making his first movie "was the sheer endurance needed -- it's an incredibly tiring and brutal marathon."

Luckily, Niccol was well supported by his producers at both Jersey Films and Columbia Pictures. "That's why I went to Jersey, because they have a great reputation for working with first-time directors," he notes. "They're also final-cut producers, which was very important to me."

In addition to being well prepared for the project, thanks to "tons of notebooks and sketches that really showed the world I wanted to create in great detail," Niccol was also greatly helped by his background and experience working on commercials. In the '80s, the New Zealand native moved to London, where he quickly established himself as a top writer and director of commercials.

"Commercials really are like mini-movies over there, because there's more of an obligation to entertain," he points out. "In fact, they're often more clever and more interesting than the actual programming, and that makes for a fertile breeding ground of future film directors."

Indeed, Niccol is following in the footsteps of such other ex-commercials talents as Ridley and Tony Scott, Alan Parker and Hugh Hudson. "I think that background gives people here more confidence that you are used to storytelling and can handle something longer and meatier." He adds, "Even so, it was a pretty tough project to take on because the schedule was so ambitious."

Niccol reports that "Gattaca's" below-the-line budget was a mere $14 million. "So," he says, "I obviously could not re-create the world for that money, and instead we had to be very inventive, which I think was a blessing in the end."

He explains: "I couldn't just throw money at a problem and build the world. And if you're doing a union film, it means you're basically locked into L.A., and that's quite an experience in itself. I got location managers who'd swear, 'No one has ever shot here before,' and you'd glance down and see gaffer tape on the ground. So we had to find ways to make L.A. look new and different."

Working with Roelfs, Niccol looked for classical architecture "rather than the obvious sleek, spacey kinds of buildings." The pair found its perfect form for the Gattaca headquarters in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin County Civic Center. "It really embodied that optimism about the future that I wanted," he reports, "and from that we built all the interiors on a warehouse in Culver City, as we couldn't even afford a proper soundstage. The ceilings were too low and there was little soundproofing, but you make do."

The shoot itself was a tight 60 days, and Niccol came in on time and on budget. "We worked five-day weeks," he says, "which was a suggestion of Stacy's and a really good one, because then at least you have one day to prepare and one day to recover. I think a six-day week would have killed me." He laughs.

As for being both the writer and director, Niccol the author takes a very pragmatic view of the filmmaking process. "I know that the script is just a blueprint, and even if, as the writer, I have a favorite scene or line, you have to learn to kill those babies," he admits. "Sometimes a line will work in rehearsal and blocking, but not when you shoot, so at those times it helps to know the writer really well.

"I love shooting because you always get those magical moments with the actors that are often unscripted," he continues. "But I also love all the prep work, and the editorial is something I'm very comfortable with because as a writer, it's my final rewrite."

Niccol, a hot property whose next film, "The Truman Show," starring Jim Carrey, has been directed from his screenplay by Peter Weir, says that his debut as a director was "a very good experience. Obviously, for the first few weeks, they (the producers) watched me very closely, but after seeing the dailies, they figured I knew what I was doing, and then they relaxed."

With "Gattaca" finally seeing the light of day, is Niccol happy with his first film? "I'm the kind of person who can only see the flaws. But yes, it's the film I wanted to make."

(c) 1997, Iain Blair
Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate