People

By Barbara Kiviat, Sonja Steptoe

YET ANOTHER CUTTING-EDGE ROLE

Playing a barber might seem a tame choice for JOHNNY DEPP. But not when it's Sweeney Todd. Depp and director Tim Burton--who previously teamed up on Edward Scissorhands and last year's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--are reuniting for a movie version of the Stephen Sondheim musical about the murderous London barber who shaves his clients a little too closely. Depp, who will do his own singing, popped by the Broadway revival earlier this year and chatted with Michael Cerveris, the Tony-nominated thesp who plays Sweeney. The part is grueling, Cerveris says, but "we know Johnny Depp is very good with scissors. Razors shouldn't be a problem."

IT'S ONE MORE HOLLYWOOD ENDING

This sounds familiar. Two great-looking people make a movie. Soon after, one of them calls it quits on a marriage. Gossip--and gossip magazines--follow. No, we're not talking Brad, Jen and Angelina. That's so last year. This time out, it's KATE HUDSON and her rock-star husband CHRIS ROBINSON, who announced last week that they had split after six years of matrimony and one baby boy, now 2 1/2. The gossipiest of the gossip mags pin the blame on Hudson's You, Me and Dupree co-star Owen Wilson. Their publicists insist that Hudson and Wilson are just good friends.

WORKING ON A CLEANER IMAGE

Here's a test of celebrity status: Do people show up to watch you sweep a street? BOY GEORGE, the '80s pop icon, was mobbed last week when he performed community service in New York City--his sentence for lying to police about a phony break-in (a cocaine-possession charge was dropped). At first, George balked, but he seemed to get into it during his five days behind the broom and even floated the idea of a benefit for the city's street cleaners. And, yes, people did turn out to see the Karma Chameleon at work in a sanitation worker's vest.

Q&A MACY

GRAY

Doing what comes naturally, Macy Gray sings and sashays her way through the film Idlewild, a musical set in the 1930s but with a hip-hop beat.

It looks as if you had a good time making this film.

I had a blast. We would all hang out on the set, even if we didn't have a scene, because it was such a fun vibe.

Any trouble getting into your role as a female pimp?

No, it came natural to me [laughs]. I have an aunt who has the same spirit as Taffy, my character, so I modeled it after her.

Is your aunt a madam?

No, but she could be. She's pretty wild.

Last fall, you started the M. Gray Music Academy as an after-school arts-education program for kids in L.A. Are you teaching there?

No, but I did a workshop on style and image where I took the students shopping and showed them how to choose outfits to perform in.

You realize this has reality show written all over it, right?

We definitely have a lot of drama going on over there, so it's a good thought.

You've also got a new CD on the way. Did you choose the title Big because you think it will be?

It's definitely going to be huge. But the title is more about the big changes that were going on in my life. Before, I just cared about the moment. Now I want to do things that sustain me.

After being in movies with Denzel Washington and Terrence Howard, you must be hoping for a role where you get the guy in the end.

I'm writing a love story, and in it I'm gonna get the guy. --By Sonja Steptoe