Gwyneth Paltrow is refreshingly blunt discussing her film role, how she got it and which stars she asked about addiction to research it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For Gwyneth Paltrow, the explanation for how she wound up playing an addicted, depressed, has-been Country Music star in the film Country Strong is simple.
“The producer, Jenno Topping, has been a really good friend of mine for fifteen years,” she recalls. “She beat the shit out of me until I read it and I’m glad I did.”
Paltrow is refreshingly blunt discussing the film, a world away from Kelly Canter, the overly-managed, multiple skeletons in the closet character she plays in the film.
Though the role required her to perform to a packed out concert hall, Paltrow is under no illusions as to her ability to pull a crowd.
“When we were shooting the end of the movie where I do the big performance I was terrified at first. About half way through the day, I thought, ‘This is actually kind of fun. I can see why people do this job.’ Of course, my fans were paid to be there. Always guarantees a good response.”
Paltrow also readily admits she wasn’t a fan of country music going into production.
“I grew up in New York City where there’s no country music radio station so I just wasn’t exposed to it,” she explains. “Then I had to get serious about learning about country music. I really fell in love with it. This whole thing has been very surprising to me. To discover a whole genre of music at thirty-seven years old and be, like, all psyched about it and geek out on it was fun.”
Her geeking out took in a very broad spectrum, even so, her inspiration in playing and performing as a country music star is a surprising one.
“I just watched everybody. Honestly, the thing that made me feel like, okay, I get this, was watching Beyonce a ton. I think she’s the best live performer happening right now.”
While Beyonce helped Paltrow understand the performance aspects of her character, her choice of inspiration for another aspect, Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr., is far less flattering.
“I had this scene that’s trimmed down a lot in the movie, but the night after I’ve done some horrific thing, I just kind of wake up and expect to just keep on going,” she explains.
“I didn’t understand that. I understand addiction. I used to be very addicted to cigarettes, for example. I understood the disconnect or self-destruction of thinking, ‘I know this is bad for me and causes cancer and my Dad has throat cancer, but I’m going to smoke anyway.’ But I couldn’t understand it to the point of wrecking someone else’s life.”
“So I emailed Robert Downey Jr. and said, ‘Explain to me how this goes. I don’t get it. You spend a night where you lie and cheat and there are no consequences and you barf and you could kill someone and then you get up and have a coffee?’ He wrote me back the most amazing email. He just explained the psychology of it so well. He really helped me with that.”
If Paltrow is candid about her reasons and research for Country Strong, she is equally comfortable discussing why her film roles are so few and far between now, even if the offers keep stacking up.
“I really can’t do more than one thing a year. It’s just not worth it to my family,” she explains. “I try not to let too many things pile up, although I’m a terrible script reader. A movie will be coming out and I’m like, ‘I’m sure that’s on my desk.’”
Country Strong is available on Sony DVD and Blu-ray>/b>
