Fashion & Beauty

Marisa Miller’s sexiest role

‘I’m shooting today, and I had two cookies last night,” Marisa Miller says with a laugh, sitting in the driver’s seat of her black Mercedes G-Wagen outside Seascape Beach Resort in Aptos, Calif., after driving there from her home in nearby Santa Cruz. “That’s one of the reasons I work out hard, because I do like to eat what I want.”

Decked out in gray J Brand jeans, an Alexander Wang T-shirt, a moto jacket and studded Converse, Miller oozes the California cool you’d expect from a former Victoria’s Secret Angel settling into life after lingerie.

“In Santa Cruz, if you put on a high heel, everybody’s like, ‘Where are you going?’ ” she says. “A lot of places here, you could get away with going to breakfast in your pajamas.”

There are at least 228 million men who wouldn’t mind seeing Miller turn up just about anywhere in her pajamas. That’s how many mobbed Sports Illustrated’s Web site when she graced the cover of the mag’s Swimsuit Issue in 2008, setting a record high for traffic at SI.com.

Later that day on set for The Post’s Hot Issue, Miller eases into a sexy orange Moschino bustier dress, looking just as comfortable done up as she is in her West Coast casual. For someone who has more or less given up modeling, the girl’s still got it.

“I think as you get older, it’s important to make a conscious decision to make that transition,” she says of modeling, “because if you don’t, then it’s like, how long are you going to hang on?”

The 34-year-old blond bombshell returns with a career revamp this month with her first film, “R.I.P.D.,” the action-adventure comedy in theaters this Friday starring Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds as ghost cops of the underworld. Miller plays the avatar for Jeff Bridges’s character, Roy, meaning she’s the version of him that people see on Earth.

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To emulate Bridges’ physical tics, Miller studied the Dude every chance she got.

“I’d watch him, and then I’d have to jump in and mimic his body language when he did the scene,” explains Miller, who knew Bridges was playing the role when she auditioned for the film alongside a slew of other sizzling actresses.

“I watched ‘The Big Lebowski’ and ‘True Grit’ for, like, three days straight just to hear his voice and be familiar with him, and have that in my head when I was reading the script,” she says.

The audition experience was new to Miller, who found herself feeling far more competitive about the process than in her modeling days.

“With modeling, because it’s pretty superficial, you can’t change the way you look. You are who you are,” she says. “With acting, there’s some effort involved, and you’re using some skill.”

Miller rose to fame as a lust-worthy fixture in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for the better part of the last decade before landing the cover in 2008. In addition to donning those iconic wings for Victoria’s Secret, she’s appeared in sexy campaigns for everything from Harley-Davidson to Marc Jacobs.

Even with all those years of baring all for the camera, Miller says it’s her latest turn as an action hero in a minidress and trench that makes her feel sexiest.

“I definitely would say playing my character felt hotter [than modeling]. When you’re playing a character, you’re more involved and you’re not just standing there,” she says. “You definitely can kind of jump into the character more.”

Last year, Miller sidestepped the spotlight after getting pregnant with her music-producer husband, Griffin Guess, and giving birth to son Gavin in December. But this doesn’t mean she’s lost her sex appeal. Seven months later, Miller is happier with her body than ever before.

“It’s funny, [after] being pregnant and putting on weight and getting my body back, I found that I definitely feel better and I look better with a little more weight on me,” she says. “And yes, I still wear lingerie — with some nursing bras thrown in there now.”

Miller keeps fit with Pilates five days a week and by staying active — she’s apt to take little Gavin hiking, and having once placed second in Kelly Slater’s celebrity surf contest, she still hits the waves at least twice a month.

And those cookies? She makes them herself, so she knows what she’s putting in her body.

“Any time that you have a body that’s naturally fit from doing an activity, and it’s not like you’re sitting in a gym 24 hours a day, I think that’s a lot sexier,” she says.

But what does Miller find the hottest part of her own body?

“Oh boy,” she says. “For me, I would say my buns. It’s one of those things I have to work at a lot, but at the same time, I’m happy they’re there.”

Aside from those buns, how does she keep the flame of her marriage burning now that she’s both a mother and reigniting her career?

“I think making it a priority is a really big deal. It’s one of those things you can’t take for granted,” she says. “It takes work, like anything else in your life. If you put energy and focus into it, you can keep it hot.”

gregorymiller@nypost.com