They're gathered around the stage door for the "Today" show like seagulls stalking a fishing boat. And when Lena Olin saunters out, after an interview with Matt Lauer, they pounce. "Lena, will you sign this?"

"Will you take a picture, please, Lena?"

They extend glossy photos of Lena as Laura/Irina in the cult TV hit, "Alias," and thrust disposable cameras. Olin smiles, signs and poses, then steps into the black Cadillac Escalade, which will whisk her from Rockefeller Center to an appearance on "Live with Regis and Kelly" near Lincoln Center.

It's all part of the publicity push for "Hollywood Homicide," which opened Friday, in which Olin appears as Harrison Ford's girlfriend, a radio psychic. Olin is leaving immediately after these television appearances for the film's premiere in Los Angeles.

"I don't mind doing publicity," Olin says breezily. "When I hear actors talking about how bad it is, I wonder what they're doing on the days they aren't doing publicity."

The "Alias" fans? "Oh, it's a very nice situation," she says, of her role as the flip-flopping double agent who also happens to be the mother of the show's central character, secret agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner). "The people who come up to you are people who know you for your work. And they always want to compliment you. People who watch it don't watch it randomly. They're diehard."

A native of Sweden who got her start working for Ingmar Bergman, Olin has been cast mostly in roles with an element of the femme fatale, whether in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" or "Enemies, A Love Story." So she appreciates the chance to play comedy opposite Ford in "Hollywood Homicide."

"I tend to get dangerous, dark roles," she says. "But comedy is really much more me as a person. I'm a light, upbeat character."

She admits that she shares a belief in the supernatural with the character she plays in this film. "Oh, huge - it's a big part of my life," she says. "I base my life on notions and sixth senses more than rational reasoning. I've never gone to a psychic; I get suspicious when people make money from this. Sometimes I make odd choices but, in the long run, it makes sense when I look back. I think it's a good way to lead your life: by instinct rather than strategic thinking."

Olin, 47, shares a rambling house in Pound Ridge with her husband, director Lasse Hallstrom, and their two children. They spend summers in Stockholm, and tend to take turns working, so one is home with the kids - except when Olin worked for Hallstrom on "Chocolat."

"The only disadvantage is that there's no one at home for the kids and the house," she says. "Otherwise, we had a blast. He's so fantastic to work with. We're trying to find something to do together again."

Meanwhile, Hallstrom is in Vancouver filming "An Unfinished Life," and Olin is set to costar with Harvey Keitel in a film to be shot in Stockholm in August, which coincides with her vacation. "It works out pretty great."

And, of course, there's always the next season of "Alias." Will Olin reveal whether Irina/Laura winds up as a hero or a villain?

"I always think I'm good because no one thinks of themselves as a villain," she says, pausing outside "Regis" to sign and pose for another group of "Alias" faithful. "I like to think that she does what she needs to do. But is she a good guy or a bad guy? I really don't know."

- Journal News