People

By Rebecca Winters Keegan

NIGHT OF DRIVING DANGEROUSLY

Celebrity DUIs are as common on one stretch of Malibu, Calif., highway as blonds in convertibles. But when L.A. sheriffs arrested MEL GIBSON for driving at nearly twice the legal speed--with a blood-alcohol level of .12% (.08% is the state limit)--the A-lister with an image as a sober traditionalist Catholic seemed to be reverting to his Mad Max days. Gibson was released on $5,000 bail and later issued an apology, both for the driving infraction and for what he called his "belligerent" behavior: "I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable." Gibson was arrested for drunken driving in 1984 while filming a movie in Toronto and later credited his faith with helping him overcome alcoholism. His publicist did not return calls for comment.

Q&A

HELENA BONHAM CARTER

This summer, Helena Bonham Carter appears with Aaron Eckhart in Conversations with Other Women and prepares for the next Harry Potter film.

Conversations is obviously a low-budget project. What appealed to you?

It was a woman I could recognize. She was allowed to be her age, [while] Aaron's character is a Peter Pan.

Know any men like that?

Tim [Burton, her boyfriend] is a bit of a Peter Pan, but a good one. He definitely has a big child in him. There's no inner child. It's all outer.

You're selling jeans?

They're called Pantaloonies. The idea is, I give you a questionnaire: What's your favorite song? Your nickname? Whatever. You give us your jeans. And then I make personal patches for the bottom. It's like a scrapbook on your bum.

Tim has cast you as an ape, a witch and a corpse. What next?

I don't get any favors for sleeping with the man. I have to audition. The first conversation we ever had, for Planet of the Apes, he says, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're the first person who occurred to me to play this chimpanzee. I have this intuition you like changing what you look like." And he was right. Any chance I get, I'll wear teeth.

Why did you make Johnny Depp your son's godfather?

Well, [my son] does have 11 godparents. It's like a football team. And they can all be guilt-free because out of the 11, someone's bound to remember his birthday. Johnny can tell him poo jokes.

Can you tell us anything about the next Harry Potter movie?

I'm Bellatrix Lestrange. She's a witch, a torturer. I go for the teeth fitting tomorrow.

LIKE, BUSTED

No matter how good an actress you are, it's tough to fake being sick when paparazzi have snapped you at a karaoke bar. The producers of LINDSAY LOHAN's film, Georgia Rule, have accused the young actress of malingering. In a letter delivered to Lohan's L.A. hotel and posted on the Smoking Gun website (gee, wonder who leaked that?), the CEO of Morgan Creek Productions said she was "a spoiled child" and "ongoing heavy partying is the real reason for your so called 'exhaustion.'" He threatened to seek damages from Lohan, 20, who plays an unruly teen in the drama opposite Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman. Lohan's publicists, perhaps genuinely exhausted, did not return calls.

BIG NAMES WRITING FOR LITTLE PEOPLE

Because, apparently, you're never too young to be susceptible to star power, celebs keep writing those children's books.

DAVID BECKHAM hopes to encourage the pitter-patter of little cleats with next year's Making It Real, a soccer-skills book.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG teaches manners to ages 2 to 6--and Hollywood agents--this fall in Nobody Wants to See Your Finger in Your Nose.

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, with her seventh title, Is There Really a Human Race?, is the Marcel Proust of the genre. But her books have better pictures.

EMERIL LAGASSE's There's a Chef in My World! kicks the brown-bag lunch set (What do you mean, no PB&J?) up a notch this fall.

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN's Lady in the Water was a bedtime story before it was a film. Now it's a picture book. Paul Giamatti doll not included.