Q & A with...Gwyneth Paltrow

http://people.aol.com/people/sp/perfectmurder/gwyneth.html


At 25, Gwyneth Paltrow seems to have the world on a string.
A critic's darling since her featured role in 1993's Flesh
and Bone, Paltrow has gone on to become a leading lady who
commands as much press attention for her beauty and romantic
life as for her acting talent. And though her much-ballyhooed
engagement to Brad Pitt bit the dust last year, Paltrow has
bounced back into a relationship with up-and-comer Ben (Good
Will Hunting) Affleck, with whom she stars in this fall's
period piece, Shakespeare in Love.

The daughter of acclaimed actress Blythe Danner and TV
producer Bruce Paltrow, Gwyneth grew up in New York City's
well-heeled Upper East Side and has enjoyed the benefits of a
privileged upbringing -- which came in handy in her latest
role as trust-fund baby Emily Bradford Taylor, the adulterous
trophy wife of industrialist Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas)
in A Perfect Murder.

PEOPLE Online: The comparisons between you and Grace Kelly
have been coming before this movie, and now -- with your
playing her role in what's being called a remake of Dial M
for Murder -- they're going to come even faster. How do you
feel about that?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Well, obviously very unworthy. There's only
one Grace Kelly. She was a very extraordinary actress. I prefer
to be compared to her than [laughs] someone else. But I'm very
flattered all the same.

PEOPLE Online: It was reported that your dad was a little
trepidatious about you working with Michael Douglas because of
their friendship.

GWYNETH PALTROW: That was just a joke, whereby Michael was
teasing my father about the fact that he was playing my husband
and about [the] physical contact that he had with me in the
movie. But it wasn't serious trepidation, it was just old
friends ribbing each other a little bit.

PEOPLE Online: Are there pluses and minuses to trying to
establish a dynamic with an actor who is a good family friend?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Yeah, I suppose there were. The pluses were
that I've known him since I was a little girl, so in that
regard I think he was my champion and wanted me to succeed and
was very supportive of me. If there were any negatives, it
would just be that I could never regard him as a peer. He was
always very much my dad's friend. I had to resist the temptation
to call him "Mr. Douglas."

PEOPLE Online: A lot of movies present actresses your age in
relationships with men who are much older, which sometimes it
comes off as kind of creepy. This is a movie where it's supposed
to be creepy. Was that something that drew you to this project?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Obviously it's sort of creepy if in real life
I'm married to Michael Douglas. But in the movie it makes perfect
sense. And people do it all the time, young women marry much
older men. I suppose the reason it's less creepy in this film is
just because exactly that -- it works for the film that there's
a kind of uncomfortable age difference between them.

PEOPLE Online: Did you study any Hitchcock films to prepare for
this role?

GWYNETH PALTROW: I was always a big Hitchcock fan. But to be
completely honest, Dial M for Murder isn't my favorite of his
films. I think artistically what he was trying to do was keep
it a stage play -- it's one of his least cinematic films. So I
felt like we could really do something different.

PEOPLE Online: There's also going to be an update of Psycho.
What are your thoughts on the mystique of Hitchcock and these
updates and remakes?

GWYNETH PALTROW: I think that the reason that Alfred Hitchcock's
films are still so widely watched and revered is because he was
a brilliant filmmaker. He invented his genre and his films hold
up all these years later. And in a world where Hollywood is
constantly making sequels to things, why not have Gus Van Sant
shoot the exact script of Psycho? Let's see what he does. To me
that's really exciting [and] it is no way desecrating the
original movie. The original movie is always there.

PEOPLE Online: You've enjoyed a pretty meteoric rise to fame in
the last couple of years. Now that you're in a position where
there's so much attention focused on you, do you have any
regrets about choosing this career at a cost to your privacy?

GWYNETH PALTROW: It's an interesting concept, that of regret
and what would I do differently given the option. In fact I
think I made a movie about that [Sliding Doors]. But I think
that regret is a total waste of time, a complete anti-lesson.
So I would never regret anything, I would just try and avoid
recreating those situations.

PEOPLE Online: How has the press been in London?

GWYNETH PALTROW: The [British] press is okay. They are and they
aren't. Right now it's OK, 'cause I'm in favor right now:
Sliding Doors is the No.-1 movie here. But you know what
they're like here, they're pretty ruthless. They really build
you up and then they have a big old party, just [being] rude
and tearing you down. But I think since Princess Diana was
killed they're a little bit more respectful; if you ask them
"please don't follow me," or "please don't take a picture" they
actually listen. They
didn't used to.

PEOPLE Online: One of the attributes you bring to any film is
great beauty. Would you put on 40 pounds for a role?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Would I have to? I would, I guess. I wouldn't
like it. I'm just as vain as the next boring actress. But I
don't mind looking grubby, I don't mind looking ugly, I wouldn't
mind gaining weight if it was right for the thing. I know that
certain people think that I have certain amount of pulchritude.
I guess it helps in a way -- and in a lot of times I think it
hurts. There are roles that people wouldn't think of me for
because of the way I look. [They say] "you're too regal for that
[role]". People obviously perceive me like that, which is
strange. It's not how I perceive myself.

PEOPLE Online: You get to wear a lot of great clothes and
jewelry in A Perfect Murder. What does it feel like to be
drenched in diamonds?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Well, it wasn't bad. I can think of worse
accessories. It was kind of hilarious. The night that we were
doing the scene at the Metropolitan Museum of Art I actually
had an armed guard, because Cartier had lent us some really
beautiful things. I think the necklace cost $180,000, some
ridiculous price.

PEOPLE Online: The kitchen scene was very physical. Did you
really get knocked around?

GWYNETH PALTROW: A little bit. Thank god for the stunt double.
She did the heaviest parts. But it's hard, because when you're
doing a close-up that involves so much emotion it's a tricky
thing to do: all of a sudden you're inserted in the scene for
just one bit and it's supposed to be very charged and emotional.
You have to work yourself up into this frenzy. [But] I just did
the close-up stuff, 'cause I'm a big wimp.

-- DORRIE CROCKETT