By Rémy Crane in Los Angeles

From actors to producers to soon-to-be-college students, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are taking the world by storm. Because they’ve been in the public eye since babies (their first role at nine months old was on the ABC sitcom "Full House"), it’s important to them as their 18th birthday approaches that they are taken seriously as adults. Although the two are guarded about the more personal aspects of their lives, they do not mince words when making it clear that each has her own identity, taste and opinions. And, they want to be respected for that individuality, they quickly point out during a recent interview. “If you can respect us as businesswomen, and powerful young ladies, respect us also as individuals.”

It’s hard to believe that these young women can look back on so many achievements. It’s obvious that they are enormously proud of their most recent accomplishment, the release of their first feature film, "New York Minute."

This film takes the audience on a roller coaster adventure into a day in the life of twin sisters with vastly different personalities and interests. On their venture from Long Island to New York, each encounters a series of mishaps and in the process learn that they have to work together to reach a happy ending. The film is pure fluff, like grace notes in music where unexpected and wonderful things happen. The film’s rapid-fire MTV pace, the musical choices, the humor, the fashion, and of course, the exhilaration of New York City, are all wrapped up in a movie package that will captivate young audiences.

I sat down with the petite, elfin-looking girls to discuss the release of their film and to hear about the pressures and vicissitudes of being so successful. Here is a sample of what Mary-Kate and Ashley had to say:

Q: How would you define your differences in personalities in real life versus what we see in your movies?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: I think you would have to ask someone who knows us really well. Everyone has been asking us that question and it has been so difficult to answer. It’s not a black or white thing; we agree on a many things. At the same time, we think differently. We respond to different things, react to different things. But we have similar ultimate goals in life. Right now, it’s to finish high school, go to college in the fall and stay in business.

Q: Speaking of business, can you say what led you to pursue the characters which you decided to play in your movie? Are we to assume that you discussed these characters among yourselves?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: Yes we did. After reading the script, we were both attracted to the different characters. Yet the characters don’t really represent what we are like in real life. But when we took on these roles, we agreed to do characterizations of a pair of twins who are exact opposites. One is a conservative goody goody. The other is punk and a daredevil. Both have fun in their own way. We believe that everyone needs to have fun in their lives; it’s important to find the Jane or the Roxy in each of us.

Q: The director Dennie Gordon said that some things were cut out of the movie dealing with the whole twin fantasy, if you want to use that phrase. What do you guys make of that?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: It was a bit over the top before cuts were made. Mostly, the film is a parody of the twin fantasy. Throughout the film, we not only make fun of ourselves, we make fun of the twin thing. We just wanted to have fun with these roles.

Q: Also, to add to the fun, you got to do your own stunts in this film, right? Like what?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: Yeah it’s true that we did many of our own stunts. We had our hands full. In fact, the roles were physically demanding. We had to learn to do stick fighting and drumming. We were both running around and climbing out of buildings...and, we got a couple of bruises. Oh--and this isn’t a physical stunt--but Mary-Kate had to learn to speak Chinese. That was a different type of challenge.

Q: Let’s talk music in the film. Do you the like band Simple Plan that is in the film?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: Simple Plan was perfect for their part for many reasons. They have hit songs and they have a big fan base. One of the steps in producing the film was to incorporate the musical part. We had George S. Clinton do all the music. We found the tone that we wanted and then he put together a list of what he thought would be good at which intervals.

Q: You’ve done TV and movies. What kinds of things are left for you to accomplish? In otherwords, what do you yearn to do post college?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: We are always creating different things and coming up with new ideas. We set different goals for ourselves. Right now, it is just getting to college. We know what we want--our ultimate goal is to stay in business. We are not here with a specific plan. That’s kind of how our entire career has evolved. We will figure things out as we go along. But trying different things has opened up new and different opportunities. And then we just take things as we go along. For instance, in our work, we start with the process of looking for a good script. Things just tend to fall into place after that.

Q: Is there a time when you might not want to work together?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: You can’t do twin movies forever. We will probably always be in business together though. If we’re not working together in front of a camera, then it will be producing a film or one of us will direct while the other acts.

Q: And you are roommates as well?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: We have been roommates our entire lives. We just bought a place together.

Q: Let’s talk other projects like doing Saturday Night Live. Were you bummed about having to miss your prom to do the show?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: It was actually a big decision for us. We had to decide: Do we want to do Saturday Night or go to our Senior Prom? We opted for Saturday Night Live.

Q: Now that you’re almost finished with high school and your 18th birthdays are coming up, what are you looking forward to doing most?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: We think we just want to have a good time in our lives! Everything is happening right now. Everything is changing so quickly. We are hosting Saturday Night Live. We are moving to New York to go to college at NYU. We kinda look at this as the second or third chapter of our lives. After college, most people figure out what they want to do with their lives. But we already know what we want to do in the future and that is to continue to further our business goals.

Q: So, with so many offers and accomplishments at such a young age, do either of you feel like “regular” kids?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: Just as we have had great working lives, we have also had good personal lives. For instance, we have made school our number one priority. We have been in school our entire lives with kids our own age. We guess that’s pretty regular.

Q: Do you two feel the press has been pretty good to you guys?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: Yeah, we know the press has been good, but we try to stay out of the public eye when we are not working. And, we do not really like to talk about our personal lives.

Q: Okay. You don’t like to talk about your personal lives, but one personal question: How do your boyfriends cope with the industry and your success?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: They like us for who we are. Our friends have to cope with our success the same way.

Q: Has Maxim come knocking on your door yet?

MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY: We don’t know.. not that we would pursue anything like that.

“New York Minute” opens in theatres May 7th.