‘Homeland’s’ Claire Danes says she has no imminent film plans

It’s been a while since Claire Danes appeared on the big screen -- nearly three years, when she had a supporting dramatic part opposite Zac Efron in the niche release “Me and Orson Welles.”

Don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Danes will make her much-anticipated return to the nation’s TV sets when her hit “Homeland” returns for a second season on Sunday (she’s nominated for and presenting at the Emmys that day as well). But “Homeland,” along with her and husband Hugh Dancy’s pregnancy with their first child, is keeping Danes busy -- so much so that she has no films in the works.

“I would like to do a movie at some point, but I’ve got plenty on my plate and am totally sated,” Danes told 24 Frames.

At an earlier point in her life, Danes had a very prolific film career -- in a three-year span in the 1990s alone she made a half-dozen movies, and with the likes of Baz Luhrmann, Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Coppola. But the former “My So-Called Life” star made her return to series television for the first time in more than 15 years when she signed on to “Homeland,” which centers on the actress as a brilliant but bipolar CIA agent tracking an American terrorist.

Danes did shoot one movie recently, an indie called “As Cool as I Am,” in which she plays a troubled mom to a teenage daughter (!). But the film has been languishing without distribution since it shot in the spring of 2011. The actress didn’t sound an overly enthusiastic note about it either, offering little more than a terse, “I don’t know what’s going on with that. It’s something I shot a while ago” when pressed about its status.

In many ways, Danes’ is the story of many other top-caliber actors circa 2012, looking for choice roles and finding them far more available on pay cable than in the film world (she, of course, also made ”Temple Grandin” for HBO before “Homeland”). Though its 12-episode run is shorter than that of a broadcast show, the actress may be wise to keep concentrating on “Homeland.” It’s as cinematic as a series gets, and Danes gets a lead role that amounts to five or six features’ worth of material each season.

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