MS: Okay, enough with the personal questions. Your hair--it
looks great.

GP: It's for my next film. It's another little independent
English comedy called Sliding Doors.

MS: What's your role in that movie?

GP: I play a woman . . . you see two stories of the same woman--
when she just catches a subway and just misses the same subway.
You see both stories. It's kind of that thing of, "Oh God, if
only I had answered the phone before I left the house, I wonder
what would have happened." It's good.

MS: Many people expected that you would get an Oscar nomination
for Emma. Were you disappointed that you didn't?

GP: No, I'm not disappointed. I was surprised that people thought
I would be nominated. I think it was a terrific year for women.
I'm glad that people can go around and say "How come you weren't
nominated?" or "It's such a shame that Debbie Reynolds wasn't
nominated," or Winona for The Crucible, which was fantastic. You
know, on and on. Why wasn't Madonna or Courtney Love or whoever
nominated?

MS: What do you think about the Academy Awards in general, as an
institution?

GP: I think it's wonderful to be acknowledged, and it's a very old
tradition, which is really nice, but they shouldn't mean so much
to you. You hear people get so upset, saying "I wasn't nominated,"
or "I didn't win." Well, it's not about that. You should be happy
with the work that you've done, and making the people you love
proud. The other part is gravy if it happens.

MS: What do you want to win this year for Best Picture?

GP: What's nominated again? Oh yeah, Fargo, by far.

MS: You caused a stir a while back when you changed your mind about
starring in The Avengers, leaving the role to Uma Thurman. What
happened?

GP: Well, I almost did it, and then, just personally it was very
hard. At that time Brad had just signed on to do a film in New York
for the summer and that would have meant a four-month separation,
and I thought, "It's a wonderful role and I think that Uma will have
a great time with it and everything. This isn't the right thing for
me right now." And Uma will be so much better in it than I would,
anyway. It's true!

MS: Can you tell me anything about the upcoming film you might do with
your fiance?

GP: There is a film we're talking about doing called Duets. It's
about karaoke singers. It's three short stories basically--two-
character short stories. They're all intercut. They all intersect
in the end.

MS: Your dad is going to direct that, correct?

GP: Yeah, yeah, that's great. I've never worked with him before. I
always begged him to be in St. Elsewhere, but he never would.

MS: I loved your gritty character years ago in Flesh and Bone.
Will we see you play that sort of role again?

GP: Thank you. Well, in Great Expectations, which I did, Estella is
a very cold-hearted, manipulative person. So if you're looking for
the bitch Gwyneth Paltrow, there's a bit of that in Estella. [Laughs.]

MS: When you see a finished movie after it's been edited, do you ever
feel disappointed or cheated by the way the director has put it
together, like you've been somehow misused?

GP: Of course, sometimes, you do. But at the same time, unless
something has been radically altered, you always know basically what
you're getting into. In the situations where I feel, "God this really
didn't turn out the way I would have liked," I've said to myself, "Why
didn't you just listen to yourself? You knew at the beginning!" But
sometimes you do a movie because you've got to pay the phone bill, you
know. You can't try and re-justify it later.

MS: You're a very passionate performer. What sorts of things inspire
you, in general?

GP: What inspires me? Good work by other artists, whether it's a de
Kooning painting or Philip's performance in this movie, or Audrey
Hepburn's performance in Roman Holiday, or a piece of music, or
anything that's good, real, true.

MS: Is there any particular issue in society today that you feel
strongly about?

GP: Unfortunately, I get so insane when I watch the news and read the
paper, and I get so upset about things in the world, especially
children who do not have enough money to eat and don't have homes.
I really have to stop watching the news because I just can't stand
it anymore. Even when you watch TV now, it's all about sensationalizing
violence or hunger or awful things and all those things. I've just been
reading a lot now and I'm trying to tune out the world a little bit.