A pox on fair-weather friends
Brad Pitts' gal pal actress Gwyneth Paltrow sees through new buddies

http://www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesArtistsP/paltrow_gwyneth.html
Thursday, May 2, 1996
By BOB THOMPSON-- Toronto Sun


NEW YORK -- Sometimes you don't need real or even imagined friends.
Just ask Brad Pitt's significant sidekick Gwyneth Paltrow.

She has more new buddies now than she knows what to do with -- mostly
female chums, for some reason.

For some reason? "It feels so inappropriate, and how stupid do they
think I am?" says Paltrow.

Indeed, she knows a good con job when she hears one, and lately she's
been getting lots of them -- more hustles than the residents of River
City.

"It upsets me more than being followed by the paparazzi," says
Paltrow. "It's like an invasion. And I think, 'How dare you be mean
to me in high school, and now try to be my friend just to get close
to Brad.'"

Other than that, there's the overwhelming media mania covering Pitt's
and Paltrow's live-in relationship.

Even fame savvy Paltrow -- daughter of actress Blythe Danner and
writer-producer Bruce Paltrow -- gets a little unnerved by the
unwanted attention.

"It can be dizzying," she confirms grinning, "and it can be strange
in terms of dealing with people who are supposed to be close to you.

"It helps that I've grown up in it, because I'm not awed by the whole
thing, but nothing can quite prepare you for it when you're in the
middle of it."

So what Pitt and Paltrow do is work -- a lot.

Paltrow, in fact, is on a roll. She co-stars in the David Schwimmer
comedy The Pallbearer, opening tomorrow. She's starring in Emma, the
Jane Austen period piece expected later in the summer.

She just finished the dark comedy Sydney with Samuel L. Jackson, and
she's just starting a movie thriller this month with Jessica Lange.

Paltrow says she was hesitant at first to take on the lead in Emma --
"I didn't want the responsibility, but I couldn't resist."

As for Sydney, it was just a lot of fun. "I play Clementine, a
waitress living in Reno, and, oh yeah, she's also a hooker," says
Paltrow naughtily.

What about the Lange movie? Paltrow's a huckster now. "It's a
psychological terror movie. I move back in with my mother, and the
nightmare begins."

So she's still having a good time, despite the pressure of hanging
out with the world's sexiest man. "It helps that we have each other,"
she says. They can relate in their relationship.

"We both did a couple of movies for the wrong reasons, and some arty
movies for the right reasons. We are similar in so many ways.

"We know the press can be really ruthless, too. They try to strip
away protective layers, and when they do they try to annoy you to get
a headline, and sometimes it's tiring."

And that's why the couple, "Keep to ourselves as much as possible."
And they don't say that much when they have to go public.

Although, Paltrow does admit this. "I'm not that amibitious," she
says.

"If this movie career didn't work out I'd be totally fine with that.
I want a family. I guess because I'm the product of a good family."

Kids -- so with Brad Pitt?

"We kinda kicked the idea around, but we'll see," she says.

Does that mean engagement? Wedding? An event?

"I'll never tell," Paltrow says.

Don't we hate when that happens.
Gwyneth Paltrow in The Pallbearer.