[IMG:L]San Diego’s Comic-Con International is populated by its fair share of towering Amazonian women in spectacular outfits, but no woman NOT wearing a skin-baring warrior-woman costume turned more geeky heads than Gwyneth Paltrow. The 5’9 ½” stunner showed up to help her Iron Man cast mates whip the fans into a frenzy, adding to her powerful star wattage with a bright red Zac Posen dress and sky-high silver python-wedge Lavin heels that made her almost as stratospheric as the Armored Avenger.
“Don’t show my non-orthopedic shoes,” the actress, who recently underwent knee surgery after an injury on the set, mock-warned Hollywood.com with a laugh as she sat down to discuss her entry into the world of superheroics. “I’m seriously not supposed to be in these shoes, but that’s okay.”
Hollywood.com: How is your leg doing?
Gwyneth Paltrow: It’s coming along. I got off the crutches two weeks ago and the cane yesterday and I’ve been doing a lot of physical therapy.
HW: Can you tell us about the character that you play in this movie?
GP: I play Pepper Potts, who is Tony Stark’s – a.k.a. Iron Man – Girl Friday. She’s his assistant, his confidant. She’s really the closest person to him. He’s a womanizer and kind of a loose cannon and she’s sort of his center, in a way.
HW: Is “Pepper Potts” the best character name you’ve ever had?
GP: Yeah, definitely!
HW: It must not have been hard for even an Oscar-winner to sign on to a superhero movie with Jon Favreau directing such a great cast, right?
GP: Exactly. That’s exactly why I did it. I love Jon Favreau‘s movies and the cast is just a dream – Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Robert Downey, Jr. I mean, how do you say no to that?
[IMG:R]HW: What was it that brought your out of your recent “mommy retirement?”
GP: You know, what happened was that when my son was about six months old I started to feel the fire again and it had been a really long time. I kind of understood and became okay with the fact that there’s a part of me that’s an artist, and that that was okay, and that it was okay to work. So I thought I would wait until he was one so that he could have all my attention. I would be there every day until he’s one, and then if there was a movie for me – if people haven’t totally forgotten about me – that would be great. So this came up and I started it right after he turned one and it was really good. It was really important for me because it was great for me to have that break. I really needed that break and I’ve come back to the whole world with such an appreciation for it and I feel really excited about it and so it’s really nice.
HW: Did you have to get ready for this physically really fast, or were you already there, prepared?
GP: No. I was like post-baby nightmare! So I worked really, really hard. I had an amazing trainer and I worked out twice a day and did dance cardio and felt like a complete nerd and I just really worked hard. I got into shape. I got a stomach in Mexico which really helped [Laughs] and there you go. I was ready to go.
HW: How has your Comic-Con experience been?
GP: It’s amazing. It’s really nice to kind of have feedback. You never really get that. It was really exciting to be in the room when they played the trailer. I was really excited by it.
HW: How did they convince you to come down to San Diego for the Con?
GP: They asked if I would come out and I said, ‘Does that mean I get one night in a hotel with no crying children?’ They said yes and I said, ‘Okay. I’m there.’
HW: How has it been working with Robert Downey, Jr., and keeping a straight face in scenes where he’s riffing to find a comic edge?
GP: It was the best. He is totally amazing as a human being and he made me laugh all the time. His sense of humor is so weird and he kind of talks in this bizarre way. He’s a modular thinker. He’s not a linear thinker and so he comes out with all of this amazing stuff and these analogies that are hard to follow, and he’s here and he’s there and so he really kept me on my toes.
HW: How do you find the human element acting in a story like this – because we imagine comic books can feel, in the acting, ridiculous at times? GP: Well, for me that’s what was so great, because our relationship is at the heart of the film and it was very layered and real and complicated as a relationship. I wasn’t there when they were blowing everything up.
HW: Was there a lot of green screen?
GP: It was all green screen!
[IMG:L]HW: Can you talk about working like that?
GP: Well, it’s easier, because it hurts your ears when the guns are shot and things are blowing up. They did crazy things though. They blew up a whole – well, I can’t give things away, but they really blew things up and it was like, “Wow. This isn’t your average day of work.” It’s like eight hours to set all the charges and I was like, “Are they really going to blow this whole thing up?” Yep, they did.
HW: Does your character get to do any physical stuff?
GP: At the end. Not fights though. I don’t have a gun. I have a list [Laughs].
HW: So many of the fans here are so passionate about things they fell in love with at a very young age. Is there something that you were equally passionate about as a kid, something that you carried into your adulthood that you would share with your own kids now?
GP: It was like those old musicals like Mary Poppins and the Hayley Mills movies. I was OBSESSED when I was little and so I’ve already shown Mary Poppins to my kids.
Read more from the cast of Iron Man here!
