Headed to the Top at Paramount?

Producer Sherry Lansing has emerged as the leading candidate to replace outgoing Paramount Pictures Chairman Brandon Tartikoff, according to Hollywood sources who said talks began last week.

Lansing, 48, would be a popular choice, both for her creative track record (“Fatal Attraction,” “The Accused”) and her reputation as a decisive and cordial executive.

For eight years, Lansing was partners with Stanley Jaffe, the Paramount Communications president who would be her boss if she takes the studio job.

“With Stanley, I presume they can converse in shorthand, and she’s not ego-bound in the job,” one longtime friend said.

Lansing, a Chicago native, had both an acting and teaching career in Los Angeles before she began her studio executive career in the 1970s, first at MGM, then Columbia Pictures. In early 1980, she made headlines as the first woman ever named to head a major studio production unit, as president of 20th Century Fox Productions.

Jaffe, who is serving as interim studio chairman, is due in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but Hollywood executives weren’t certain that Lansing’s deal will be sealed or announced quickly. “Sherry’s the reluctant bride, but she’ll be the bride eventually,” said one former Paramount executive who claimed to have knowledge of the talks.