Now that she's reemerged, things are going to be different. After her gossip-fodder relationships with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck endured public flameouts, she's learned to keep her personal life private. (Though judging from the buckets of paparazzi shots of her and Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, she still keeps good company.) She's determined to carve the fat away from her career, and plans to limit herself to one or two films a year. ''I have none of that wide-eyed 'Where is this going to go!' anymore,'' she explains. ''It's not excitement like that. It's excitement like I know what I'm doing and I know what I want to do.'' She'd love to do a musical. She'd love to shoot a documentary. She'd love to do more theater, like her triumph in London's West End with David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning ''Proof.''

But for now, after she finishes her tea, Paltrow is due on the set of the film adaptation of ''Proof'' opposite Anthony Hopkins. With ''Shakespeare in Love'''s director, John Madden, at the helm, she plays a daughter struggling to right herself after her father's death. It's an appropriate role: In the story, her character finds her way back to the light.

Originally posted Nov 28, 2003 Published in issue #739 Nov 28, 2003 Order article reprints
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