The Talented Ms. Paltrow

http://www.roughcut.com/features/qas/gwyneth_paltrow.html


Save your accusations of Hollywood nepotism for others.
This DOF (daughter of the famous) is one talented woman.
Despite being on stage since age five, Gwyneth Paltrow
originally pursued a degree in Art History at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. But fate and
legacy called her name with her critically acclaimed
performance in "The Picnic," at Williamstown Theatre
Festival in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Paltrow
dropped out of school to pursue her acting career, with
supporting roles in Malice and Seven. It was her star
turn in 1996's Emma that put her on the map, and her
OscarR-winning performance in 1998's Shakespeare in
Love that has elevated her into the stars. Stylish and
accessible, and believable in her determination to live
a "normal" life, Paltrow reminds you of Audrey Hepburn,
the kind of woman whose beauty -- and make no mistake,
she is beautiful -- is centered by her grace and modesty.
And now that she's a brunette, the comparison is even
more apt. In this interview, Paltrow discusses brunette
fun, her new movie The Talented Mr. Ripley and why
sometimes less money means more satisfaction.

Q--roughcut.com
A--Gwyneth Paltrow

Q: How do you like the brown hair?
A: I love the brown hair.

Q: Is it for any particular role?
A: I did it for a film that I just finished called
   Bounce. I think I'm going to keep it for a little
   while. I like it. I can always go back to blonde.

Q: When you were first looking at this role in The
   Talented Mr. Ripley, it wasn't as full as it is now.
A: That's a myth quote. It's not that it wasn't full,
   it was a great role. I didn't fully understand how
   layered it was until I actually got to Italy and
   started the whole rehearsal process. That's when I
   realized how brilliant a part it actually was. I
   first saw her in the first half of the movie. I saw
   that person into the second half, and then I realized
   that she's actually a completely different person.

Q: As the film progresses, she becomes more and more off
   balanced in terms of not being certain as to what's
   happening to her or around her. That must be tricky
   to play.
A: It was very tricky to play, because her whole downward
   trajectory mutates. She starts off just being
   heartbroken, or she can't find her boyfriend, or her
   boyfriend has left her this cryptic message and it's
   just so confusing. Then it turns into something much
   more sinister. She's a person who's constantly trying
   to keep together everything in life. She's a
   mathematician -- it doesn't really say but she's
   writing a math textbook over there and she's a very
   mathematical mind. And it is not adding up what this
   guy, Tom Ripley, is telling her. It's incredibly
   frustrating. She finally figures out what it is. And
   it's a much more awful place than just, "Oh, my
   boyfriend left me." She knows that something has gone
   horribly wrong.

Q: You also sense it's in her nature to be trusting of people.
A: Absolutely. I think she's very trusting. And she's
   very intuitive. She has a really good sense of people
   which is why she's so thrown by a loop by Tom Ripley.

Q: Do you put your trust in people?
A: Sometimes. Probably less than I used to. I used to be
   super-trusting. But in my position, that doesn't get
   you very far these days.

Q: When did that change?
A: It's been a slow progression. People forget that I've
   been doing this for ten years and that I've been in
   the public eye for six years. I'm in a slow lesson of
   what to do and what not to do. And it's hard because
   I'm still trusting and I still believe that people are
   intrinsically good and sometimes I'm proved wrong. But
   I don't let it get to me in the way that I did before.

Q: Is it a challenge to make people forget that it's
   Gwyneth Paltrow doing this character?
A: I don't think about it that way. I just go and do my
   work.

Q: Were you able to go to the Williamstown to work and
   play without being too conscious about the glare of
   attention?
A: Yes. I've grown up every summer of my life in
   Williamstown and I feel so at home there. It was a
   very safe place to go. There's lots of glare on me,
   but I'm kind of in denial about it. I just try to go
   about my life pretending that I'm a normal person.

Q: Well, there must be a big media stampede because you
   were there.
A: I snuck around. If they were out there, I snuck out
   the other way. I snuck out so the crowd couldn't get
   to me. Every night after the show there would be a
   big crowd of people out the back. My assistant,
   Natalie, would go out and get all the kids, and they
   would come in and I would take pictures with them
   and sign their programs and then they would go. But
   I wasn't going to engage with all those grownups who
   want a picture with me. I think that's weird.