Faces to Watch in ’96 : The Year’s in Their Hands : Well, maybe not just theirs (notice we don’t list Jim Carrey). But these artists and entertainers--some you know, some you don’t--are most likely to make some kind of splash in ’96. Ready? Everybody into the pool. : MOVIES : Tom Rothman

A former English teacher, film producer (“Down by Law”) and entertainment lawyer, Tom Rothman continued his climb up the Hollywood ladder with his appointment as president of 20th Century Fox Film Production in September.

It was an unorthodox choice for the studio, which has gone through a lackluster stretch. Though the hyperkinetic Rothman flexed his commercial muscles as a production executive at Columbia Pictures, his most recent focus has been specialized fare.

“Tom’s aesthetic sensibility sets him apart from the gorillas,” says Samuel Goldwyn Jr., at whose company Rothman worked as production chief. “But he’s not walking around with a beard looking for Albanian films.”

At Goldwyn, Rothman helped move niche movies into the mainstream with hits such as “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Wedding Banquet.” As head of Fox’s new Searchlight division, he scored big with “The Brothers McMullen” and set in motion projects by Bernardo Bertolucci, Spike Lee and Stephen Frears.

“This job is a confluence of creative and business issues,” says Rothman, 41. “Knowing the dynamics of deal-making is a help.”