Lady Gwyneth denies crown
Paltrow uneasy with comparisons to Princess Grace

http://www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesArtistsP/paltrow_gwyneth.html
Sunday, May 31, 1998
By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun


Gwyneth Paltrow is feeling like a princess. Not just any princess -
the late Princess Grace.

Her roles in such films as Great Expectations, Moonlight and
Valentino, Emma and Jefferson in Paris earned Paltrow comparisons
to '50s movie star Grace Kelly, who left Hollywood at the height of
her career in 1956 to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Paltrow's starring role in the erotic thriller A Perfect Murder,
that opens Friday, adds even more credence to the claim that she
embodies the enigmatic elegance that was Kelly's trademark.

A Perfect Murder is a remake of Dial M for Murder, the thriller
Kelly filmed for Alfred Hitchcock in 1954.

"I feel flattered but the comparisons are totally unwarranted,"
insists Paltrow, 25, adding "there is only one Grace Kelly. She was
such an extraordinary actress and an extraordinary person."

In her day, Kelly's characters routinely wore the designer gowns and
lavish jewelry of society's elite. The same is true of Paltrow in A
Perfect Murder.

In one scene she attends the opening of a gallery draped in diamonds.

"I had an armed guard with me the whole evening we shot that scene.
The necklace alone cost $150,000."

In A Perfect Murder, Paltrow plays the trophy wife of financier
Michael Douglas, who is plotting to murder her for her inheritance.

The hired assassin attacks Paltrow's character in the kitchen of her
luxury apartment. They struggle in what proves to be a violent
encounter.

"It was my stunt double who got knocked around that kitchen set. I
just rushed in every now and then for a closeup. I'm too much of a
wimp to have done the sequence myself," admits Paltrow.

She is quick to point out to Hitchcock fans that A Perfect Murder
is only inspired by Dial M for Murder.

"We took great liberties with Dial M. Hitchcock essentially filmed
the stage play on which his movie was based. Our characters are far
more calculating than his ever were and we take much of the action
outside of the apartment."

These past years, Paltrow's private life has made more headlines
than her films.

She and Brad Pitt became Hollywood's dream couple announcing their
engagement only to break it off. She is currently dating Ben Affleck,
who she met while filming the romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love.

"Brad is a wonderful guy. Our time together was a beautiful and
complicated chapter of my life.

"I was the one who brought the press into our lives. It didn't occur
to me to be guarded. It was my nature to tell everything to everyone
but I got burned.

"The damage is done as far as Brad and I are concerned. I made some
questionable choices but I'll try not to repeat them."

Paltrow says this is why she categorically refuses to talk about her
relationship with Affleck.

"Ben's really nice and we're good friends. To say any thing more
would be to dilute the relationship. You really mess with a
relationship when you let other people in, let alone the whole world."

The British press was ravenous when it came to covering Paltrow's
relationship with Pitt, and particularly the breakup, which occurred
while she was in London filming her romantic drama, Sliding Doors.

She is back in London putting the final touches on Shakespeare in
Love. Her reception is entirely different.

"The British press is being kind these days because I'm in favor over
there. Sliding Doors is the top movie in England right now. I'm
relieved because I know how ruthless they can be.

"Since Princess Diana's death, the British press have become
respectful. They oblige if you ask them not to follow you and they
ask if they can take your photo."

This would certainly explain why there are so many recent posed
photos of Paltrow and Affleck.

There is one misconception that Paltrow would like to put to rest.

"There is this perception that I'm regal. That's not how I see
myself. I admit to being as vain as the next boring actress but if
the right role came along, I would look grubby and put on extra weight."

Celebrity frightens Paltrow.

"I worry that the more successful I become, the less people will
think of me as an actor first and that's all I've wanted to be.

"I've passed on roles because I thought they would bring me the kind
of attention I'd rather avoid."

These high-profile roles included the leads in Titanic, Boogie Nights
and The Avengers.

Once she has completed Shakespeare in Love, Paltrow is set to film
something else.