Olsens get out of the 'House

by Tom Green

Thanks to eight years sharing a role on TV's Full House, 9-year-old twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have an cognition factor that's through the roof.

But a lifetime in front of a camera - they began their ABC series when they were 9 months old - has not exactly turned the girls into big talkers.

The Olsens have made their first feature film, It Takes Two, a rich girl/poor girl tale opening today. You'd think they'd be more verbal, but short responses laced with a lot of "uh-huhs" pepper their conversation.

Do you want to be movie stars? "Yes," Mary-Kate says.

Will it change you? "No," Ashley says.

Co-star Kirstie Alley says the girls, though they have charisma, are not precocious. "They're very normal in the way you want kids to be normal."

The film's director, Andy Tennant (TV's The Amy Fisher Story),says don't be fooled by the twins' reticence.

"They're much more fun than that," he says. "They're not at all Hollywoodized. They're shy and kind of going along. Then something happens when you give them the work."

"They are movie stars," Tennant says.

Though many think they are identical twins because they played the same part on Full House, the sisters are actually fraternal twins. "I'm left-handed," Mary-Kate says. "I'm right-handed," Ashley says. "We feel like we're totally different," Mary-Kate adds.

Says Ashley: "She's a fashion person." Mary-Kate says she's better at dance, while her sister is good at horsebackriding. The two lead separate lives in school and never dress alike. "That's weird," Mary-Kate says.

It Takes Two, in which they play an orphan and the daughter of a rich businessman who wind up playing Cupid to Alley and co-star Steve Guttenberg, is not the first time the twins have each had their own roles. They have already notched two successful TV movies and four hugely successful juvenile- detective home videos.

Though they know little about the business side of their careers, they have deals with Warner Bros. for feature films, a new ABC series and more detective videos.

"It's all like a game to them," Alley says. "They love the acting, but for entertainment they make videos of each other dancing."

Tennant admits he was "underwhelmed" seeing an Olsen video. But the production deal specified the twins; the movie wouldn't have been made without them. "They came with the dinner." But their performances are surprising, he says.

"Now I have pictures of my mother, my wife, my children and the Olsen twins on my desk. I've been converted."

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