Willowy GWYNETH PALTROW sat down with JULIE MORAN to discuss
her role in, 'The Talented Mr. Ripley.' She gave us all the
scoop about shooting in the foreign locales and working with
buddy MATT DAMON!

http://www.etonline.com/cgi-bin/get-article.pl?section=spotlight&table=Interviews&id=7805&page=all&publish=yes


Julie Moran: The locations on this film were stunningly beautiful.
Do you like shooting on location?

Gwyneth Paltrow: I do. After a while it gets difficult being so
many miles away from home, but I love the adventure part of it. I
especially love to go to Europe, to be able to work and then go
explore all these cultures, cuisine and museums on your down-time.
It's actually a great way to go to work. But I do get homesick. I
have to be honest.

Julie: What a great year for fashion, 1958. Was there one
particular outfit that you loved in the film?

Gwyneth: I think my favorite outfit -- it may sound funny -- but
there's a scene where she's writing in her book in the garden and
she's wearing short-sleeved pajamas and a white cardigan. That was
my favorite outfit.

Julie: Matt Damon was saying that the food was fabulous, but he
couldn't eat the food. Did you tempt him or tease him?

Gwyneth: I didn't do either. You have to understand that he was
over there for six months, and he never got to come home. The rest
of us had breaks so we could go back and forth. Plus he had to lose
all this weight for the part because ANTHONY [MINGHELLA, the
director] saw the character as being very slight. So we were all
going out eating pasta, drinking wine, and he was in his room
eating a steamed chicken breast every night. Nothing else, and he'd
run eight miles on the treadmill. He was like a monk.
It was a very ascetic existence for him over there. The last thing
you could do is tease him.

Julie: He's such a good friend of yours. Is it easier or harder to
work with your friends?

Gwyneth: I think it's easier. It's really fun. I love working with
friends because when you're not on set you have someone to shoot the
breeze with, hang out with, do the crossword puzzle with. That's
exactly what it was like working with him. His old friend Aaron was
there as his assistant, and my friend Julia was my assistant. So we
all hung out, and we were surrounded by people that we actually
cared about. I was having a difficult time over there, and to have
friends around made it much more palatable.

Julie: In what way were you having a difficult time?

Gwyneth: Well it was just so hard for me because I was in Italy,
making this incredible film with Anthony Minghella and the most
incredible cast I've ever worked with, and that's when I found out
that my grandfather had cancer and that my father got sick. I had
all kinds of upheavals. It was very, very tough. I felt like I was
in the wrong place a lot of times -- I just wanted to go home and be
with my family. Then I would feel ungrateful because I was doing
this wonderful movie in Italy. It was just a difficult time, so I
was glad that they were all there.

Julie: Were there any pranksters on the set?

Gwyneth: No, I hate pranksters. You hear these stories about MEL
GIBSON pouring water on people, but we really didn't have any of
that. We were all too tired. Actually, there was one little prank
that I did play on Matt. All the girls on this island were obsessed
with him. They were sending him blown-up posters of themselves,
saying "I speak the language of love," and that sort of thing. There
were thirteen-year-old girls -- it was kind of disturbing. In one of
the shops in the local town, someone had taken a picture of him on
the street, and silk-screened it onto a T-shirt. So we were going to
a Vanity Fair photo shoot, so I bought the T-shirt and put it on
under my sweater. So when I went to the photo shoot they asked me to
unzip my sweater, and there was this really dorky picture of Matt on
the cover of my T-shirt. (laughs)

Julie: What did he do?

Gwyneth: He was just dying laughing. It was funny.

Julie: Tell me about JUDE LAW. Is he the next big thing? Everybody
just can't say enough about him.

Gwyneth: I think so. I think he's the real thing. He's gorgeous,
kind, an excellent husband, an excellent daddy. He's such a good
man. Such a good actor. He really is a great, great guy. If he's not
a huge movie star, then I just don't know.

Julie: Not bad to look at either.

Gwyneth: No, he's gorgeous. We love him.

Julie: Were you surprised that CATE [BLANCHETT] took this smaller role?

Gwyneth: I wasn't surprised because as an actor you want to be a part
of films that are good. If you find something interesting in the part
that you say, "I haven't done this before. I haven't expressed myself
this way. This is a person that I want to figure out." It doesn't
matter to us whether it's a small part or not. It's not about just
being on the screen the whole time, that's uninteresting. If it's a
good part it doesn't matter what size the role is.

Julie: Are you having fun as a brunette?

Gwyneth: Yeah. I like it.

Julie: Do blondes or brunettes have more fun?

Gwyneth: For me personally, I've had more fun as a brunette because
nobody recognizes me. So I've been sneaking out all over the place
and nobody knows who I am. So I've had more fun as a brunette.

Julie: What's the one thing that you miss being able to do because
you're a huge star?

Gwyneth: Walk through an airport. I used to like to walk through the
airport, take my time, buy a newspaper, and sit around. Now it's a
much less tranquil experience. Sometimes it's difficult, and
sometimes it's not a problem. It just depends on the day and the
city I'm in.

Julie: You were great in Williamstown. When are going to do Broadway?

Gwyneth: I'll do it at some point. I think I definitely will. It's
just hard right now. Williamstown is so great because I can just go
for five weeks and get a really good work out, do something that I'm
proud of, then go back home. Broadway wants a six to nine month
commitment, so I think I need to wait a couple of years before I
commit to a play. I would do a play in New York if it was a shorter
run.

Julie: Why didn't your parents want you to be an actress?

Gwyneth: I think because my mother knew first hand how difficult it
can be and how much rejection you're faced with. They didn't know if
I was going to have any talent or if I was going to be any good. I
think as a parent you just want to protect your child from what
possible dangers are out there. They just wanted me to do something
more classically intellectual, and not face so much rejection.

Julie: How happy are they that it all worked out though?

Gwyneth: I think they're pretty happy. I think they have some
concerns, too. My life isn't quite what it once was, and I think it
concerns them because they're real decent, normal people. I think
they worry, but at the same time I think they're really proud of me
and my success.

Julie: So how does the Paltrow family spend Christmas?

Gwyneth: We have a tree, we cook a big Christmas dinner.

Julie: Do you have a specialty that you cook?

Gwyneth: I do a lot of dinner, but these are all my grandmother's
old recipes, so we all pitch in and do it together. We get up, have
coffee, open presents, and just lay around. Sometimes we go see a
movie on Christmas day.

Julie: Any Millennium plans?

Gwyneth: I can't really decide yet what I want to do. I'm sort of
leaving it to the last minute. I have a few options, and I think
I'll decide at the last minute.


-- December 15, 1999


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