Interview By: Lena Aburdene
Gwyneth Paltrow has been under the microscope of media scrutiny. Beyond the fact that she's an Oscar winning actress and married to a well respected musican, she just gave birth to her first child, Apple. Gwyneth talks with us about her new movie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the public's frenzy over her new daughter,and life in general.
Gwyneth, although sometimes thought of as an ice princess, is quite down to earth and easy to talk to.
Gwyneth updates us on the status of Apple (probably the most famous baby in the country): "She's beyond fantastic, she's gorgeous, I'm completely in love...I feel much more in the present because she's so in the present'when she's sleeping she's so open and you think, gosh you just don't have a care in the world..you're living in the right now and that's amazing to see that life is this exact moment and it's not about the past or what's around the corner. It's pretty profound."
As for the reason for the name Apple' : "Apple came from.... her father said, I think if you have a girl she should be called Apple. I heard it and thought it was the sweetest, loveliest name and it conjured such nice things. I had no idea it would be an international scandal. I just think it's a lovely name."
Speaking of international scandals, Gwyneth knows more about that than anyone:"You know the thing is, the paparazzi is an aspect of my life which I really don't like and I don't like people being outside my house and following me in cars... and they can be incredibly aggressive ...but at the same time it is part of my life in the sense that I'm a public figure. Unfortunately there is an obsession with a celebrity and there's a big market for them."
Gwyneth feels that beyond the generic reasons of parenthood changing a person, she has realized something that is perhaps more important to her than anything else:"I now know the way that my parents feel about me, which I never could have understood unless I was a parent myself. It's amazing to have that insight now...it sort of reconnected me with my father (Bruce Paltrow passed away of lung cancer) in a way that I'm grateful for."
As for the film, Gwyneth is equally as excited as the rest of the cast as all the scenes were filmed in front of a blue screen. It was an obvious risk but Gwyneth has no regrets:"I was thrilled when I saw it, because obviously when you do a film on blue screen you have no concept of what it's gonna be. I knew it would have this retro beauty to and it and I was thrilled with it. It has so much style and it looks so beautiful, I thought it was a fantastic popcorn movie. Jude and I have a good chemistry, we really like working together, it's easy and really fun. I feel like I would just do it again and again with him."
The blue screen was a very different experience for both Jude and Gwyneth, but certainly a lesson in acting:"Jude and I used to joke it was like doing some 60's experimental theatre like off off broadway..and you're just thinking what are we doing' Is this going to work' But actually we had to have a leap of faith and go with it and do what we were told and commit."
Gwyneth also enjoyed playing her character, Polly Perkins, an investigative reporter: "I
had so much fun with the character, the Stella McCartney suit...the whole look of it. It was a lot of fun for me to go to work and get all dressed up. I felt like a movie star from the 1940's!"
First time director Kerry Conran was very shy around the cast as they were very famous, and sometimes he had difficulty exerting authority as Gwyneth points out, "Kerry is an extremely talented guy and he is obsessive about getting everything exactly right which I loved. He was very shy in the beginning. I commited to do the film, long before I met Kerry'I knew he would be fantastic but it was just really funny working with him and I think pulling teeth to get him to give us direction first. You could just feel him just wanting to shrink into the wall when he would say, could you just to it again' Even though he has a shy manner he is incredibly specific."
The film took place, mainly in New York City. Gwyneth a native New Yorker who has been known to praise the UK for being more mature than the U.S. clarifies that, as she explains to us, there is no place like New York:" When you grow up in NYC, you're constantly exposed to the world'walking down the street on any given day, you just come into contact with a vast cross section of world culture and the schools in NY are fantastic and if you sort of engage and plug yourself intp the culture I think there is no place on earth like NY. It is the most interesting, complicated, wonderful beautiful city. I could never leave here, no matter where I go in the world and I love to travel but I always want to come back to NY."
Gwyneth is ready to speak openly about anything. It is her grace and sweet demeanor that automatically draws you to her, wanting to be around her. She is not a spectacle like many celebrities, rather she dresses down and sports a very beautiful antique ring that seems like it was bought more for love than money. Unlike many of her counterparts, Gwyneth seems to know what counts most.
LenaAburdene@TheCinemaSource.com
