Thursday night in Atlanta, Ludacris, the co-star in the award-winning film “Crash” was set to host the red carpet premier of “Max Payne.” Sometime later, he was to put on his designer hat — literally – and unveil the limited edition, crystal-studded, $125 baseball cap he helped fashion. Saturday the three-time Grammy-winning rapper will be up for a pair of BET Hip-Hop Awards.

And at some point this weekend, it’s likely the restaurateur will stop in at his Midtown Singaporean restaurant, Straits, for the chicken lollipops and sea bass he passionately recommends.

Associated Press

Ludacris arrive at the Hollywood premiere of “Max Payne.”

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The 31-year-old Atlantan born Christopher Bridges wears many hats these days. He’s also CEO of a record label (Atlanta’s Disturbing Tha Peace), philanthropist (The Ludacris Foundation) and father to daughter Karma. He’s also a very funny interview subject. From his luxury suite at a Los Angeles hotel, he was raring to talk recently about his ever-growing interests:

Q. What made you say ” ‘Max Payne’ is a movie I want to be in!”?

A. “I wanted to work with Mark Wahlberg. I was into the storyline of him getting revenge. And I liked that my character was the only one who seems to understand Max Payne.”

Q. Had you played the video game before?

A. “I was familiar with the game enough to really get the gist of how they wanted to structure the film. It’s a loosely based take on the game, but takes it to a whole other level.

“What’s wild is the role was written for a 60-year-old white man, so I really, really didn’t know if I was going to get the part … [laughs] which I also was interested in because I get to point a gun at Mark Wahlberg and get away with it!”

Q. How did you prepare for that role?

A. “[Laughs again] Interrogating Karma! [Affects a rough voice] ‘Who was with you on the playground?!’ ‘Why didn’t you come when I called you?!’ That’s how I learned to put the fear in people — interrogating a 7-year-old.

“No, seriously though, I’ve been blessed to have worked with some really great actors already — multifaceted actors with lots of wisdom and advice.”

Q. Expound on that: What did you learn from [“Crash”] co-star Terence Howard?

A. “He told me, ‘You know, these people want you in a movie because of what you have to offer. They didn’t choose you because they thought you can’t handle the role.’ “

Q. So that was probably a confidence-builder, considering you were relatively new at acting at that time.

A. “Exactly.”

Q. Same question regarding Mark Wahlberg.

A. “He’s extremely disciplined. Extremely. And I just paid attention to that and admired that — how much he worked out and all of the personal attention he took.”

Q. And what about Jeremy Pivens (with whom he appears in Guy Richie’s “RocknRolla,” debuting nationwide this fall)?

A. “He likes doing different takes; you know, the improvisational approach to acting. I picked that up from him. How to enjoy that and embrace that.”

Q. You’re embracing a lot of different things these days. Next month it’s back to being a recording artist with “Theater of the Mind.”

A. “Album No. 6! And there’s no [featured artists] on it — they’re all co-stars. (R&B singer) Chris Brown, (rappers) T-Pain, Lil Wayne — all co-stars! I have a song on there called ‘Do The Right Thing’ with (rapper) Common and (film director) Spike Lee. There’s another song called ‘Undisputed’ with (boxer) Floyd Mayweather coaching me on it. Every song is a movie coming to the theater of your mind Nov. 25!”

Q. Happy with how Straits is going? You know what they say about celebrity restaurants.

A. “What? That they flop? Oh, now it’s still going strong. I think we’ve got it right there.”

Q. And what about the BET Hip-Hop Awards having its third annual show here? A proud moment for Atlanta?

A. “It’s great! But hip-hop can’t help but appreciate and want to be in Atlanta. It’s the Motown of the South. And BET coming to Atlanta is great for everybody. We will welcome everybody with open arms. All of you out of towners, Ludacris says ‘Welcome to Atlanta! Now spend some money, [expletive]!’ “