HOLLYWOOD FORTUNES : OK, Even if He Is a Potential Star, Why Isn’t There a ‘K’ on the End of His Name?

Seems like actor Jason Patric is being spotted everywhere. At Yankee Stadium with Julia Roberts, at the Nowhere Cafe on Beverly Boulevard . . . with Julia Roberts.

His profile--and possibly his star--is definitely rising, according to the Hollywood rumor mill. For this, he can thank--or maybe curse--his connection to the popular Roberts, who canceled her marriage to actor Kiefer Sutherland last month and ran off to Ireland where she was spotted with . . . Patric.

Once the marriage soured, so did a potential deal for Roberts and Sutherland to star in “Renegades,” a Western in which Roberts would play an American Indian of mixed blood. She was to receive $7 million and fiance Sutherland was to earn about $2.5 million to $3 million.

A source close to “Renegades”--a Ray Stark production for Carolco Pictures--said that after the Roberts-Patric relationship took off, the dark, brooding actor was actually offered the role Sutherland was to have played. He turned it down.

Now, a spokeswoman for Carolco will only say that “Renegades” is a “project in development.”

Meanwhile, MGM top brass last week saw a first cut of Patric’s upcoming film “Rush,” co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and directed by Lili Fini Zanuck. They were so impressed they are strongly leaning toward a prestige end-of-the-year limited opening. There are reports MGM has signed Patric to a multiple-picture deal, though that could not be confirmed.

“He’s a startling young actor in the film,” says Greg Morrison, MGM’s president of marketing, who compared Patric’s screen presence to Montgomery Clift’s.