* By Prairie Miller *

It seems like actress Gwyneth Paltrow has a lot of ambiguities to
deal with these days. For starters there's her role as Lady Viola
in John Madden's Shakespeare In Love, in which she plays a part
time boy. That's the only way she can fulfill her dream of being
an Elizabethan actress in a profession barring women at that time.
Then there's the fact that twenty six year old Gwyneth is so
remarkable playing British characters, that audiences tend to
forget she's American. One thing there's no doubt about right now
is her Oscar caliber performance in Shakespeare in Love. Gwyneth
sat down to talk about her passion for the role, and her strong
opinions on issues like nudity on screen.

PRAIRIE MILLER: You know, your British accent is just perfect in
Shakespeare In Love.

GWYNETH PALTROW: Well...

PM: What do you do to get it just right, or does that come naturally?

GP: I worked pretty hard. I mean, I did a series of exercises every
morning. And there was one monologue from Measure For Measure that I
always did the whole time. It drove everyone crazy! But it's really
good because, um...[Berating herself] Hello!...I just woke up!

You know, there were just tons of exercises. And I had my accent
coach, whom I always have, the same lady from Sliding Doors.

PM: You were great in Sliding Doors too. Do you ever watch your own movies?

GP: It's hard for me to watch them the first time. I don't really get a
sense of what I've done.

PM: Women were forbidden by law to be actors in Shakespeare's day. What
would you have done if you were stuck in that situation back then?

GP: I can't imagine being in that situation. That's why I admired my
character so much. She went in there and did her own thing. I would
not be that brave, I can tell you that.

PM: Did you have fun playing a boy, and dressing up as a boy in the movie?

GP: I did, I definitely did. It was a strange experience when I would
go to work as the boy. You know it was funny, because like the first
day I went on set as the boy, everybody was like, Oh! I became this
kind of bizarre object, and everyone was sort of staring at me. They
were like, oh God. It's strangely exciting, you know? And all these
British men were looking, and it was so strange.

And then I got very accustomed to it. Their energy with me was very
masculine. There would be two weeks of me being the boy, and then on
a Monday I would come in with my long blonde hair and the corset on,
and they'd be like, Huh? I was like a whole different person. They
would treat me completely differently. But it was a lot of fun. When I
was dressed as a boy, I was one of them. It's like they had forgotten I
was a girl. They would knock me around and talk about girls.

PM: Tell me about getting into your male character.

GP: It was a new experience for me. I learned how to talk lower, and
how to walk. The costume department made me this heavy, triangular
shaped beanbag which I stuffed in my tights. It was great to have that
weight, that shift in gravity helped a lot.

PM: Your part in Shakespeare In Love seems to be a dream role for an
actress.

GP: Yeah! It definitely felt that way to me. I mean, it just felt like
a dream come true, in terms of how rich the language was. And then
getting to play a boy and do Romeo And Juliet in both parts. There was
a lot going on, it really kept me busy. I've never worked so hard in my
entire life.

But it's just rare that you come across a role like that. Viola's so
strong and proactive. You know, she's really in touch with not only
what she's feeling and who she is, but what she becomes and what she
ends up feeling. You know, she's very in touch with her growth, and I
just admired her. It was really fun to play.

I mean the whole cast is just extraordinary. It's a very gifted group
of people. You feel really supported. It's a nice way to work

PM: Do you feel like you're as romantic as Viola?

GP: Sometimes. But I'm not quite as innocent as she is. She's like this
open flower. She's never been hurt, so that gives you an unlimited
capacity for romance.

PM: How do you think Shakespeare would have reacted to this take on his life?

GP: I think Shakespeare would have loved this, because he was a master
of that kind of chaotic comedy with lots of things going on.

PM: Do you think the dark lady of the sonnets really existed?

GP: Yeah. I think she was a boy, wasn't she? It was a time when
everybody was very open with their sexuality. It was just about
expression. It was a very free time in a lot of ways.

PM: While we're on the subject of the sexual freedom of the times, I
was struck by how, you know, nude you are in this movie.

GP: You? Think about my grandfather! Basically it was very important
to be that. At the center, the spine of this film, was a love
relationship that was filled with unparalled love and passion. You have
to watch it and be swept away by how much they love each other. If you
didn't see these people so painfully in love with each other, then the
film wouldn't work. And more importantly, the message of the film
wouldn't work.

The purpose of the story is to show that you can have passionate love,
and it doesn't necessarily have to turn into the person who you spend
your life with. It can be an incredible experience that propels you
forward to do other things and live other lives. I felt it was important
to show a good romance in all its aspects.

I felt that to try and convey that and be a puritan at the same time,
you know, making sure the sheets are up and that kind of thing, is
stupid. So we had to do the scene like it would really happen, so the
passion would seem real.

Especially because it was film where I was playing a boy, and the
contrast of that. I just felt that it was really important to the
story. Some people will probably be taken off guard, but I think
that's a good thing.

PM: What does that mean for you in more personal terms?

GP: Any time anyone gets too comfortable with the way they perceive
me, what I should do, or how I should behave in a movie, then it's
time for me to reverse it in some way.

One of the things that goes along with my work life is this person,
Gwyneth Paltrow, and people write all kinds of things about her and
speculate, and say this and that. I don't read it, and I don't let
it bother me. I don't engage in it. I don't empower it by getting
upset about it, that would waste so much of my energy. And believe
me, I used to get upset, but it's stupid.

They don't know me. What they're writing about me, it's not me. I
know who I am. Why should I make it my business to think about what
strangers are writing about me, guessing about me or making up lies
about me? It's really destructive, so I don't.

PM: What about the issue of your privacy? Eventually Shakespeare In
Love will go to video, and the public will be able to download these
shots of you.

GP: Yeah, but you can already download pictures of me on the Internet,
you know what I mean? There's nothing I can do about it. And to start
letting that kind of thing affect my artistic choices, I might as well
quit. It's just totally antithetical to why I do what I do.

I'm an artist, and the way that I express myself when I take on the
psychology of somebody else is fascinating to me. And if I feel that
intrinsically something is revealed by that kind of thing, then I'm
gonna do it, you know what I mean? Yeah, my grandpa's not going to be
that psyched. But it's the way I choose to express myself.

And I don't think it in any way demeans me or makes me like, oh, I'm
just another woman who took my shirt off. It's not like I have a boob
job, and I'm doing it to titillate men. I'm doing it because I'm trying
to express something and reveal something in a film, and I'm glad that
I did it.

PM: Your answer really reveals how you give yourself completely to your
roles. Does that also hold true for falling in love with Mr. Shakespeare,
I mean, Joe Fiennes?

GP: [She laughs] It was very easy. He is a doll! He's just this
otherworldly person. He's so kind and so sweet, and really supportive.
We just got along like that, we became friends really quickly.

PM: So I guess the love scenes were easy to do with him.

GP: Yeah, they were fine. They can be at times odd, but we were just
so silly. We turn into like young children together, you know what I
mean? It was not at all uncomfortable. And he's such a respectful person
that he didn't make me feel strange, or anything like that.

PM: Had you ever played Shakespeare before?

GP: No, never. And I really want to do it now, you know? It was really
exciting. I mean, I had done like a lion in a high school Shakespeare
play, but I don't count that.

PM: Did you have the typical American high school attitude about
Shakespeare?

GP: I didn't have the typical attitude, only because I grew up with my
mother [Blythe Danner] always doing Shakespeare, or her friends always
doing Shakespeare. I mean, every summer we were in Williamstown, and
every summer she did Much Ado About Nothing in the park with Kevin Kline
when I was in high school. I was always exposed to it, always seeing it.
She dragged us to every experimental bizarre Shakespeare with, you know,
dance interpretations in like burned out East Village churches. It's just
something that I was always very exposed to.

And the language is just unparalleled, really. There were some days when
we were shooting the Romeo And Juliet things, and you just thought about
what was happening. It was so moving and beautiful, you know?

PM: Could you have made a film like this if you weren't a fan of Shakespeare?

GP: I don't think you can be an actor and not be a fan of Shakespeare. I
mean, I suppose you can be like Bruce Willis or something. And I don't
know that he's not a fan of Shakespeare, but just in terms that you can
be an action star and not necessarily be a Shakespeare fan.

But if you value text and language, you just can't not be. I mean,
that's a very big generalization, but I challenge someone to explain
that Shakespeare's not the father of poetry and language, especially
in theater. It's impossible.

PM: Why do you think you get picked a lot for period pieces?

GP: I don't know. I don't want to get stuck doing the same thing, that's
not fun. I love playing darker parts that are more gritty. PM; Do you
have any insecurities as an actress?

GP: I've tried out for millions of movies and didn't get them. I have a
strange look. When I was nineteen, I was stranger looking than I am now!
I was still kind of baking until I was twenty two or so.

PM: I hear you're going to be working with your dad Bruce next in Duets.

GP: Yeah, but that's not work to me though, I don't count that! That's
just gonna be really fun. Duets is a six character karaoke movie.

PM: So what do you do when you're not working, I mean, if there is such
a thing as real down time for you?

GP: Well, I missed all of the football season because I was in Europe.
That's what I do on Sundays. Or you know, I just hang out. I see my
friends, I read, I go to bookstores, I cook. I just kind of get my life
back. I just do my thing, you know?

PM: What's the hardest part for you about this fame thing?

GP: I think I've had a difficult time proving myself because I was the
daughter of some people. Then I was the girlfriend of somebody. I think
people were resistant to seeing me for my own work.

PM: What do your friends think of you as a star?

GP: They think it's hilarious. They all make fun of me. They're in town
this weekend, and I'm meeting them for an early dinner before I get
impaled by the TV journalists. They have been my friends forever.
They're real with me. They're not afraid to contradict me.

PM: What's your favorite movie right now?

GP: There's Something About Mary. It's my favorite movie ever!

Copyright 1998 by Prairie Miller