"Precious," about a heavyset woman and her tough life in Harlem, has won raves in the Hollywood trade papers, and will be released closer to awards season. It stars Mo'Nique.

But Daniels doesn't want to talk about it because "Tennessee" (review on Page 41), which he produced, opens today in Philadelphia as it makes its way around the art-house circuit.

It features Mariah Carey as a waitress and would-be singer who helps two troubled brothers make it from Texas to Tennessee. Carey also has a small role in "Precious" and is now one of Daniels' good friends.

The fruitful Daniels-Carey collaboration has its roots in the city, where the two met while Daniels was filming "Shadowboxer." "It was a mutual thing," Daniels told Daily News film critic Gary Thompson.

"She'd heard of my work. I like her a lot. We have friends in common. We were working late - it was like 3 a.m. when she showed up, because she works nights - and she was almost like a cheerleader for the film."

The meeting yielded no working commitment, but she wanted to work in film, and Daniels kept her in mind. When he went to cast "Tennessee," his first choice was Janet Jackson. She agreed to do the part, and was adding weight that the role requires, but quit when she decided to tour and take the weight off again.

That's when he contacted Carey, who took the role under conditions set by Daniels.

Conditions such as no entourage.

"I said, 'Listen, Mariah, here's the thing. I can't have all this around me. It will interfere with the atmosphere we're trying to create. You'll really have to lose that posse.

'It will set a tone for the crew, it will be better for morale, and it will set a tone for your character,' " he said.

Carey was game.

"She's a trooper . . . I think it's her best work on film."

Tattle film production slate

The Hollywood Reporter says French film legend Jean-Luc

Godard, 78, is working on "Le

socialisme," a political story that could be ready this year.

He's also thinking about directing "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million," a first-person Holocaust tome from New York Times writer Daniel Mendelsohn.

* Also from the Hollywood Reporter:

The 1983 comedy "Valley Girl," which, like, you know, starred Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman may, like, you know, be remade as, you know, a musical.