People

  • Guns Are So 2002
    When THOMAS JANE talks about The Punisher, a comic-book movie that opens next summer, you get the sense he's not talking about the no-dessert kind of punishment. Jane plays Frank Castle, a moody, haunted ex-Marine, now superhero, whose wife was killed by a Mafia boss (played by John Travolta). Hence his penchant for the punitive. The actor spent nine months working with Navy SEALs on "hand-to-hand combat, edged-weapon fighting, Japanese martial arts, Israeli martial arts, Filipino martial arts..." Jane ticks them off on his now deadly fingers. "The training has been incredibly intensive." Is he devoted to his craft? Or just compensating for having a girl's name?

    Pop Copycat?
    Lesser divas have aped MADONNA'S look for years. Now the woman who made crucifixes and cowboy hats chic is accused of ripping off another style icon — deceased French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin. Bourdin's son filed a copyright-infringement suit last week, claiming the images in Madonna's video for Hollywood — including one of the star twirling in an office chair in her lingerie — virtually duplicate 11 pictures by the influential lensman. "Madonna is certainly a fan of [Bourdin's] work," her publicist said, adding that the singer had not yet read the claim. If Madge has to settle, perhaps she can get Britney and Kylie Minogue to cough up for their "homages" to her.

    Cristal For Gatorade
    Hip-hop mogul P. DIDDY may finally soak some sweat into that tracksuit when he runs the New York City Marathon next month to raise money for children's charities. Admitting he's not well prepared for the event (he's on a strict regimen of only one party a week), he says, "If I have to crawl, I'm gonna finish the race." Oddly, his fitness plan includes a low-carb, high-protein diet, precisely the opposite of what most pasta-scarfing distance runners eat. But then, they don't have a Bentley for a sag wagon.