Faces to Watch in ’95 : We’re Counting on Them : MOVIES

Some of them you know. Some you don’t. But the following artists, entertainers and executives have one thing in common: We’re counting on each to mae a significant impact or difference in their respective fields this year. Sure, there will be thers who make a splash, but after we talked with dozens of people who work in entertainment and the arts, these were the names mentioned most often. You might say that Jim Carrey was a face to watch in ‘94, and you would be right. But, based on “Ace Ventura,” “The Mask,” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey’s ’95 should bear watching. Another pair of familiar faces--Jay Leno and David Letterman--appear on our list. Why? Haven’t we looked at these guys enough? Well, truth be told, how do you know what’s going to happen to them this year? Fame can be sooooo fleeting.

Amy Pascal

After seven years as executive vice president of production at Columbia Pictures, Amy Pascal is building a studio from scratch.

Last September, she took over as president of production for the fledgling Turner Pictures Worldwide--an operation she hopes will be releasing eight films a year by 1998.

The position is tailor-made for Pascal, 36, a self-starter whose story sense and straight-shooting style has endeared her to directors like James L. Brooks and Mike Nichols, whose “I’ll Do Anything” and “Wolf” she helped develop and supervise.

Unafraid to call herself a feminist, Pascal is open to those women’s stories (“A League of Their Own,” “Little Women”) many female executives eschew. But it’s mainstream yet eclectic movie-star fare (“Awakenings,” “Groundhog Day”) to which she is primarily drawn.

“At Columbia, I had a boutique in which I could make whatever I liked,” Pascal says. “Here my job is to make all kinds of movies. If I’m going to have a dumb comedy, though, I want a smart dumb comedy.”