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NEW YORK -- Helen Hunt is speeding towards superstardom and she's not exactly mad about it.
The co-star of the hit NBC-TV series Mad About You is also starring in one of the summer's most anticipated action films. Twister is directed by Jan DeBont, who also turned Speed into a box-office hit.
If Sandra Bullock's post-Speed ascent is any indication, Hunt's star could rise quickly after the movie's release Friday.
"I don't know how ready I can be," says Hunt. "I hate being recognized when I go to plays and walk around.... It's weird."
Though Hunt doesn't want the recognition, she is hoping her portrayal of a scientist chasing tornadoes in Twister will boost her movie career.
"If it gets me good parts in movies and plays, I'll be really happy -- but the rest of (fame) I don't love and if I think about it too hard, I'll get really flipped out."
Perhaps Hunt's less-than-enthusiastic attitude is seeded in exhaustion.
Hunt flew directly from the set of Mad About You to Oklahoma where she immediately started the 17-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week, four-month shoot for Twister. The filming of Mad About You's current season was delayed two weeks so Hunt could finish battling the killer wind funnels.
"(Mad co-star) Paul Reiser has been very sweet and supportive and he's coming to Twister's premiere," says Hunt.
She says she couldn't describe the physically-demanding movie to Reiser when he asked her about her summer.
"What I really want to do is watch him watch the film."
During the filming of Twister, Hunt was battling a jet engine from a Boeing 707 which blew ice and simulated debris at her.
"It (the filming) was low on glamor and high on action."
Hunt did many of her own stunts and while her Twister co-star Bill Paxton put the kibosh on some action-packed scenes he was asked to do, Hunt was adventurous.
"I was willing to do just about anything as long as they explained it all to me first," she says.
What she isn't willing to explain is the season finale of Mad About You.
"You'll have to watch it," she says coyly.
Keeping the sitcom fresh "was one reason we wanted to take this big leap at the end of the season -- to shake it up for ourselves and make sure we were still creatively excited to be there.
"It's a very satisfying ending. It's not a kind of cliffhanger."