Hunk on Hollywood's horizon **

IT'S after 11 o'clock on Friday night, and the audience from an advance screening of "Mimic" is still in the Worldwide Cinema's lobby, 15 minutes after the thriller's conclusion. Odder still, occasional screams still pierce the air. But these shrieks have nothing to do with the movie -- and everything to do with its leading man. The classically tall, dark and handsome Jeremy Northam is shaking hands with adoring fans, and melting each with a steady, soulful gaze. Flash-forward to 8:45 the next morning in Northam's Upper East Side hotel room. After 3 1/2 hours sleep and still suffering jet lag (from his flight from his home in London), Northam can't get over the girls' reaction. Or accept being eyed as Hollywood's latest hunk. "No one looks twice at me when I walk down the street" in London, he says. "I suppose it's flattering, but I don't see how I fit in that scheme of things. Right about now, I feel 110." Little wonder. Aside from promoting "Mimic," Northam's currently shooting a romantic comedy in England, "The Misadventures of Margaret," with Brooke Shields and Parker Posey. That's after recently wrapping his part in Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Amistad," due this Christmas. In between sips of black coffee (which he's made himself, not wanting to bother the Regency's room service), Northam tries again to discuss his "Mimic" role. But all of a sudden, he stops himself in mid-sentence. "Listen to me," he says. "I'm talking absolute bollocks. A million thoughts are going through my mind and my brain can't engage one of them. I know I seem hopelessly inarticulate." Actually, the 35-year-old actor proves anything but, particularly in describing his "need" to tackle varied roles. Having progressed from Sandra Bullock's suave but murderous romantic interest in "The Net" to Gwyneth Paltrow's beloved in the period comedy "Emma," he loved getting down and dirty with Mira Sorvino in "'Mimic." (They play husband-and-wife scientists who battle a mutated strain of giant cockroaches beneath Manhattan's subway system. "I wanted to try the action genre," he says, "but without playing someone who rips his shirt off and pulls out a bazooka to solve the problem. In "Mimic,' I hoped I was playing a man of the mind who becomes a man of action." But Northam admits that crawling through wet, dark tunnels and getting "slimed" was more fun than reciting the Bard of Avon's prose as a member of England's Royal Shakespeare Company. That's what he was doing when offered a part in "Voices in a Locked Room," a low-budget Canadian film shot in London and Montreal. An agent saw his "Voices" screen test and invited him to L.A. to read for "The Net." He got the job that afternoon. "There's been no structure or natural progression to my career," he says. "I completely lucked out since they were willing to go with a complete unknown whose major work was in theater." A whirlwind weekend of costume fittings and makeup tests resulted in "a dream come true." But by completion of the subsequent "Emma," the dream come true's down side was equally apparent. "I don't necessarily like the business of being an actor," he says, noting that his favorite pastime is spending quiet time with his Australian girlfriend. "Specifically, I don't enjoy interviews, publicity tours, photo shoots or even going for job interviews. But I'm thrilled when the camera starts to roll or the curtain goes up." And, Northam grudgingly admits, when encountering a lobby full of swooning admirers.

Copyright by The New York Post - Larry Worth - August 1997