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5 QUESTIONS - Life is good for Scarlett Johansson. The actress and aspiring singer just recorded her debut album and has a calendar full of film projects that will keep her busy for months. At just 22, Johansson has already taken direction from Robert Redford, Brian DePalma, Christopher Nolan and Woody Allen, with whom she s currently working for the third time.

She s shared the screen with John Travolta, Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi and Hilary Swank in roles that have seen her as an outcast, action star and little girl lost. In her latest project, “The Nanny Diaries,” Johansson stars opposite Oscar nominees Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. Set in her hometown of New York City, the film tells the story of a 21-year-old college grad who learns what money can and can t buy when she takes a job as a live-in nanny for a super-wealthy couple and their son.

Speaking by phone from Barcelona, where she s shooting Allen s latest film, Johansson talked with The Associated Press about music, her movie career and how she avoids the pitfalls that plague her Hollywood contemporaries. Johansson: We both kind of think that term is so bizarre. You know, it s not like I come bring him inspiration when he s got writer s block at 3 in the morning.

We like to work together. It s an easy working relationship and a really nice friendship, so it works out. But I don t know if it goes much further than that.

Johansson: Shari (Springer Berman) and Bob (Pulcini) were attached to it . . .

had written the script, and I was a big fan of “American Splendor.” So I met with them . .

. and we just got along incredibly well. The three of us spent hours talking about everything, and we have sort of similar upbringings, and we re all from New York.

That s what attracted me to the project to begin with. Of course, (also) just the opportunity to play somebody who was a girl who I very easily could have been friends with or known. I felt like I d never really had the opportunity to play someone that I could so easily relate to, someone my own age.

I just really loved the script. I thought it was clever and funny and a nice opportunity to do kind of a broad comedy. It all was very attractive.

Johansson: I ve always been a huge fan of Tom Waits and I had this kind of golden opportunity to make an album however I wanted and it s kind of a dream chance. . .

. Originally I thought that I would do an album of standards and I wanted to include a Tom Waits song. And I don t know, I thought maybe everybody does standards, and so, I see Tom Waits as being kind of a composer of modern standards and so it seemed appropriate that I could interpret his songs.

Obviously, it s not an album where I m trying to sound like him. It would be impossible. He writes such beautiful songs and incredible melodies and they re so cinematic and kind of open-ended so I felt like it would be something that I could be inspired by.

Johansson: I actually started acting because I wanted to be in musicals when I was a little girl. That s where my dream career was going to be when I was 8 years old, like the young Cosette in “Les Miserables.” Then I started making films and I never ended up doing musical theater.

Of course, by the time I turned 13, I kind of buried that part of myself. You know, it s always been there. I ve always loved to sing and I ve always loved music and listened to lots of music and all kinds of music.

Johansson: I don t think necessarily that there s trouble looming around the corner for everyone involved in this industry. . .

. I have a really wonderful family that s very supportive. Luckily I never really struggled with any kind of, I don t know, image problems or addictions.

You know, I think it s not just people in Hollywood. . .

. It s kind of part of just growing up and growing up in the world that we live in today where everything is so available and so fast-paced. MOVIES - 3:10 TO YUMA Outlaw Ben Wade terrorizes 1800s Arizona, especially the Southern Railroad, until he is finally captured.

Wade must be brought to trial, so Dan Evans, the owner of a drought-stricken ranch, volunteers to escort him to the train. Along the trail, a grudging respect forms between the men, but danger looms at every turn, and the criminal s men are in pursuit. (R) THE BROTHERS SOLOMON John and Dean Solomon are two kind, but lovelorn, siblings whose social ineptness stems from childhood years spent in a frozen wasteland.

Upon learning that their father s dying wish is to have a grandchild, the brothers set out to find wives and start families, a mission that may be doomed to failure. (R) SHOOT EM UP A man named Mr. Smith delivers a woman s baby during a shootout and is then called upon to protect the newborn from an army of gunmen.

(R) COMING NEXT WEEKEND A woman (Jodie Foster) who was brutally attacked tries to recover by going on a mission to get revenge in “The Brave One.” . .

. When a young man finds out that his mother is getting remarried, he returns home only to learn she s planning on marrying his old gym teacher, “Mr. Woodcock” (Billy Bob Thornton), who tormented him in high school.

TELEVISION - Looks like real-life folks are finally demanding equal TV time with all those rambunctious cartoon characters. Cartoon Network is introducing its first live-action series, “Out of Jimmy s Head,” which features flesh-and-blood seventh-grader Jimmy Roberts in a human world infested with animated creatures . .

. creatures that only he (and the viewer, of course) can see. Here s the concept: After a trolley accident at Gollyworld theme park, Jimmy had an emergency brain transplant that left him seeing things namely, the characters of legendary cartoonist Milt Appleday, whose brain he got.

Only Jimmy s best friends, Craig and Robin, have any idea that he cohabits with cartoons on an everyday basis. And they think it s cool. But it really complicates Jimmy s life, only adding to the zany problems any live-action kid would already be dealing with on a weekly TV series.

Based on Cartoon Network s movie “Re-Animated,” “Out of Jimmy s Head” calls on Jimmy to keep his clashing realities sorted out, while upholding the values of the cartoon world he reveres. And along the way he must also contend with parents, siblings, teachers, bullies and an eighth-grade girl he has a crush on. Dominic Janes plays Jimmy, while Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) is among the stellar talent voicing the cartoon characters.

“Out of Jimmy s Head” premieres Friday at 7 p.m. FROM THE FILES - Highlights during the week of Sept.

9-15: 1955: “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS. The program ran for nearly 20 years on TV. 1967: “Ironside,” starring Raymond Burr, premiered on NBC.

1974: “Little House on the Prairie” made its TV debut. 1984: The first MTV Video Music Awards were held in New York. Madonna stole the show with her performance of “Like A Virgin,” in which she rolled around onstage in a wedding dress.

1985: “The Golden Girls” sitcom debuted on NBC. 1987: Michael Jackson began a tour in Tokyo in support of the album “Bad.” 1993: “The X-Files” made its debut on Fox.

2002: Singer Gwen Stefani of No Doubt married singer Gavin Rossdale of Bush in London.