Isabel Lucas has emerged as a frontrunner in a list of impossibly gorgeous twentysomethings auditioning for director Sofia Coppola for roles in her new film Somewhere.

Sofia has an uncanny knack for discovering new talent – she cast the then barely known Scarlett Johansson in her 2003 Oscar-winning movie Lost in Translation. And Isabel, 24, is hoping a part in Somewhere could do the same for her profile. Industry insiders say the actress met Sofia last week and is keen to take part.

Somewhere, also written by Sofia, is about a hard-living Hollywood actor who re-examines his life after a visit from his 11-year-old daughter. Stephen Dorff has been cast as the father and Elle Fanning as his daughter, with filming expected to begin in July. It’s a family affair, produced by Sofia’s father Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope film studios, and will mark the producing debut of her brother Roman.

Isabel, who starred for three years in Home and Away, quit the show in 2006 and has since been pursuing a career in Hollywood. She stars in the new Transformers sequel and has already become a gossip column favourite.

After splitting with Entourage star Adrien Grenier in August 2006, the actress has been linked to her Transformers co-star Shia LaBeouf, 30 seconds to Mars rocker Jared Leto, and The Waiting City co-star Joel Edgerton, who she was spotted kissing in Byron Bay in January.

But she also has a close circle of Aussie expat friends in LA, including Megan Gale, former Home and Away actress Sharni Vinson and Teresa Palmer. One LA powerbroker says: “Every aspiring young actress wants a part in Sofia’s film but she seemed really taken with Isabel. She thinks Isabel has real screen presence.”

Move over Scarlett! This could be Isabel’s big break.

Source: Pixie_Fangs / Australian Grazia magazine