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GWYNETH PALTROW
Call her Comic-Con's biggest fashion superhero: Despite recent knee surgery, Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow made a surprise appearance in San Diego in a tastefully body-hugging designer dress and vertiginous Christian Louboutin heels — and using her Iron Man costar Robert Downey Jr. as her crutch. An embodiment of the Hollywood leviathan that's officially descended on the humble little nerdfest, the good-humored and well-received Paltrow offered some observations about her journey to this galaxy far, far away from her seemingly gilded world.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've done big movies, but not really superhero movies. You'd mentioned you liked the dynamic between Robert Downey Jr.'s character (Tony Stark) and yours (his secretary Pepper Potts). But did Robert have to really sell you on it?
GWYNETH PALTROW: First my agent said, ''Jon Favreau is directing a movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard,'' and I thought, ''I'll do it.'' And then it turned out to be this. What appealed to me was the idea that it might be possible to do a movie that is really good — with good acting and real dynamics — but also happens to be a big-budget superhero movie. I like the challenge of that. A lot of people have this idea, ''Well, you do one movie for you, and one for them [the studio].'' And I've never really been a proponent of that. But this movie, it was funny. Robert called me, and he was like, ''Don't you...wanna be in a movie that people actually see?'' [Laughs] That could be refreshing.
You don't strike me as a comic-book nerd.
That's safe to say, definitely.
Do you understand this culture?
Oh yeah, I had a younger brother. So growing up I was exposed to...not even so much the comics, but the passion about the comics. But I never even thought to look at them because it was my brother's thing. It was really only when I was cast in the film that I started to read comics, and I started to get it. Marvel sent me over some Iron Man. I still read them.
Did you even know what Comic-Con was?
I knew what Comic-Con was last year because my friend [actor-writer] Simon Pegg was here with Hot Fuzz.
There's a lot of people dressed like the two leads here.
Oh really?!!? That's great! I gotta tell him that.
There's also a masquerade ball.
Are you serious?
Oh yeah.
That's amazing. I hope somebody's making a documentary about this festival or whatever you want to call it.
Do you think it's now expected of an actor to hit Comic-Con the same way he or she would Sundance or Toronto or Cannes?
It's interesting that it's so important to the movie industry, because it's like this demographic [is the one] that's still going to movies on opening weekend. Normally you do a movie, and you kind of forget about it by the time it comes out. Because life goes on. But this was amazing to, like, feel the enthusiasm. We just finished about a month ago!
Have you ever been in an environment where the fans can kind of approach you, if even through a mike?
No, no.
What's it like looking out into the crowd and seeing a dude dressed like Captain America asking a question? You saw that, right?
I love that kind of passion. I don't care what it's about, whether they completely throw themselves into it impersonating Captain America or painting.
And your director, Jon Favreau, is kind of a nerd too. Is it contagious?
It is contagious! It's almost like when somebody gives you a plate of white truffles. It's like, ''What is this? I don't know this. I've never smelled this.'' And then you eat it, and this whole world kinda opens up to you.
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