The Most Likely To Succeed

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[The Restaurateur]

WHEN STEVEN ARROYO'S RESTAURANT BOXER ON L.A.'S BEVERLY BOULEVARD FALTERED AFTER CHEFNEAL FRASER DEPARTED, HE CLOSED IT DOWN, regrouped and gamely reopened it as a more casual tapas rarity called Cobras & Matadors. On the walls are his old family photos from the '20s, and next door is his separate Spanish wine shop, Bicentennial 13, which makes it possible for patrons to overcome the inconvenience of Cobras having no liquor license--they bring their own. Cobras & Matadors has gained a reputation with Young Hollywood for being fun in a low-key way: the waiters are more likely to have a piercing through their lip than a headshot in their apron pocket. Arroyo has parlayed his Cobras success into a new Los Feliz chop-house, The Hillmont, which opened this past summer and is shifting Arroyo into the category of hit-making restaurateur. The cavernous group-eat space has the same hip-but-mellow vibe as Cobras, but is situated to please scenesters who crave a less-Hollywood environment.

THE EYE

Picking out fresh faces from the masses of young actors who descend continuously on Hollywood is one of the most crucial jobs in the movie industry. Carmen Cuba first showed her knack for choosing youngsters when casting MTV's shows "The Real World" and "Road Rules." She sharpened her eye as casting associate on such films as Living Out Loud, Life and Erin Brockovich. Then, in 2001, she served as casting director on Fox's reality-mystery fable "Murder in Small Town X," and--her big break--on indie director Larry Clark's messed-up-youth tale Bully (the cast included Michael Pitt, Bijou Phillips, Nick Stahl and Brad Renfro). Hollywood took due note of Cuba's skills--she was soon handed the reins on her first big-time feature, next year's edgy sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect, for which Ashton Kutcher, William Lee Scott, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz and Melora Walters were rounded up. If the film's a hit, Cuba's cachet will increase dramatically.

THE LUCKY ONE

Cult-favorite L.A. designer Jared Gold has been wowing fans like Kirsten Dunst and Audrey Tautou with his clothing lines, Black Chandelier and Jared Gold Signature, since he launched seven years ago in shopping hotspots like Barneys New York. And his zany runway shows--sometimes Edward-Gorey morbid, sometimes involving masks or fire--have won legions of fans in the press. But in the closing days of summer, it was clear that Gold was about to get considerably bigger: he had partnered with mass-market clothing manufacturer California Concepts. The company birthed from the partnership, La Belle et la Bette (translation: Beauty and the Beast), will keep his lines at designer-level stores but drastically increase his presence nationwide, with Gold keeping creative control of his lines. The funding also enabled him to mount his big-deal Fashion Week show at Bryant Park in New York, an extremely rare accomplishment for an L.A. designer.

THE FRESH FACE

You could argue that Jennifer Garner, the star of ABC's hit spy-thriller "Alias," has already succeeded at a level most actors merely dream of, and that would be true. "Alias" is an enjoyable romp and Garner carries it. But look at how Garner was cast in Pearl Harbor--as a four-eyed pal to the glamorous Kate Beckinsale and James King--and you realize two things: she's good on the big screen, and Hollywood hasn't yet seen her cut loose. Since, Hollywood has tagged her for other things that show greater faith in her promise. Steven Spielberg cast her in a small but sexy role in his Leonardo DiCaprio adventure Catch Me If You Can. Garner's "Alias" ass-kicking identity will be branded for the big screen in the comic book actioner Daredevil, which stars Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell. And she's scored the lead in an entirely different kind of project, 13 Going on 30, which is a female Big. That's an impressive slate for an actress in the second season of a hit series that's likely to provide her with a safe haven from which to continue venturing for some time.

THE REBEL

After spending five years putting together 1996's Walking and Talking, a successful indie movie about relationships, writer-director Nicole Holofcener had her own idea about what she wanted to do next. Fending off studio offers, she kept a low profile, directing an episode of "Sex and the City" here, rewriting a script there. Six years later, along came her Walking and Talking follow-up, Lovely & Amazing, which, with its cast of gifted originals-- Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer and Jake Gyllenhaal--charmed a wider audience than her debut had gained. Now a darling of the critics, Holofcener seems nevertheless to be repeating her pattern of retreat. She's popped up on TV credits again, but hasn't signed on for any big-budget studio flick. Now, however, there's a larger group of fans waiting for her next effort--and hoping it won't be half a decade in the making. Given her ability to command the loyalty of stellar actors, and to write inspired parts for them, her project incubation time is likely to speed up.

THE DARING DARLING

The atom-bomb-level hype that surrounded 21-year-old Zac Posen at the time of his first formal runway show in 2001 initially made some fashion watchers understandably leery. There was more hype when Posen became The Guy Whose Dress Natalie Portman Wore to the Premiere of Star Wars: Episode II-- Attack of the Clones, but whispers of doubt had already fallen away by then: Posen had shown his Artemis Fall 2002 collection earlier this year to a rowdily approving audience that included artist/director Julian Schnabel and Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis. His precocious status as fashion visionary is now established. Harking back to the glamour of the '30s and '40s, the young designer's clothes are noted for their elegance and for the confrontational twist they've been given with features like extreme necklines. As Posen explains about the woman he designs for, "She walks down the street and tells the men to fuck off."

THE UNEXPECTED

Versatile British thespian Paul Bettany made a memorable entrance into mainstream consciousness by appearing stark naked in A Knight's Tale. That same year, Bettany costarred far more fortuitously as the friend who only gradually proves to be a figment of Russell Crowe's schizophrenic imagination in the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind. Bettany was already well known in Britain for his chilling work in films like Gangster No. 1, and he's since done two more British films, The Reckoning and The Heart of Me, due in the U.S. next year. He's also been cast opposite Nicole Kidman in Lars von Trier's Dogville. The telling fact, though, is that Bettany was chosen by director Peter Weir to star with Russell Crowe in a screen adaptation of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on the tenth book in novelist Patrick O'Brian's beloved series of Napoleonic-era sea adventures. The sequel opportunities for the terrific characters Crowe and Bettany will play are a potential gold mine.

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