John Frankenheimer

* The director’s 36th film, “Reindeer Games,” opens Friday.

Fave Food: Friday night I’d go to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Yugene Kang, on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood for dinner with my wife, and maybe a few friends. It’s the best restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. I like his lamb dish and his spicy chicken, and I love his dumplings. Then we go to a movie at the AMC or Cineplex Odeon in Century City.

Start Your Engine: I like to wake up early on Saturday and go out to drive my car quickly. It’s a 1997, 580-horsepower Mercedes AMG-SL 7.3. I won’t tell you where because I don’t want the police to know, but I really put the car through its paces. I also work on the maintenance of my own cars and do the detailing.

Personal Pro-Am: I’m an avid tennis player--I play every day, actually. I play with a professional--either Michael Harrington, Gordon Davis or Tim Barry--whom I pay to play with me. I’m a fair player. Pete Sampras doesn’t have to worry about me.

Serious Cooking: After tennis I begin cooking dinner for Saturday night, when we usually have people over. I’ve been cooking for a long time. I went to the Cordon Bleu in the 1970s when I took a year off and worked in a French restaurant, Le Pot Au Feu, with chef Michel Guerard. We have great markets around here; I shop at the Beverly Glen Marketplace, and then at the Cheese Shop in Beverly Hills for truffles or fois gras.

Reading Hours: Sunday, after tennis, I usually chill out. I’ll read scripts or watch movie videos, read the Sunday paper or read a book. Mainly I like to read biography and fiction. I like thrillers and detective stories. Todd McCarthy’s book on Howard Hawks is one I just loved.

Details, Details: The other thing I do is work on miniature cars that I build. They’re 1/43 scale, metal or resin and highly detailed replicas of actual race cars.