A look inside Hollywood and the movies incorporating Outtakes, Cinefile and Production Chart. : FLACK ATTACK : Fickle, Fickle, Little Star

Julia Roberts’ firing of publicist Susan Geller, in the aftermath of a yearlong PR megablitz that netted the young star a surprising best actress Oscar nomination for “Pretty Woman,” has made her the front-runner in other publicists’ eyes for the 1991 Ingrate of the Year Award.

Although Roberts made the switch from the independent Geller to the heavyweight celebrity publicity firm PMK before the March 25 Oscar show, the buzz among sympathetic publicists around town is that Roberts blamed Geller for the fact that somebody else--”Misery’s” Kathy Bates--won the best actress award.

Neither Geller nor Roberts was available for comment, but one popular theory for the star’s decision to dump Geller is that having arrived as the most bankable, best-known young actress in America, she wants her publicity to go into a maintenance mode and feels that PMK--a big firm with offices on both coasts--can better keep the media at bay.