[IMG:L]Jake may be the last Paltrow to break big in show business. Parents Bruce Paltrow and Blythe Danner had successful directing and acting careers, respectively, when their kids came along: first-born Gwyneth, of course, followed in mom’s footsteps and became an Oscar-winning actress and Hollywood superstar, and now younger brother Jake has established himself, taking dad’s route with The Good Night, his feature film debut after helming several episodes of television dramas like NYPD Blue.
The film follows a musician (Martin Freeman) frustrated by his sellout advertising gigs and an overbearing girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow—remember her?). When he dreams of the perfect relationship with a fantasy woman (Penelope Cruz), he seeks to revisit her while he sleeps, neglecting his waking life. It is not a wild fantasy dreamscape. It is only a better, more romantic life than the one he currently lives, as the director told Hollywood.com.
Hollywood.com: Has it been difficult to establish a directing career for yourself because of the name Paltrow?
Jake Paltrow: Not in any sort of actual sense because I’ve achieved it. I made a movie as a director. I think in terms of people’s perception of how I got here, the negative interpretation was that I didn’t work for it at all and somehow it kind of magically appeared out of some sort of entitlement or nepotistic magic. I just can’t worry about those things. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with what I’m interested in, who I am. That’s just other people. Yeah, I’m related to other talented people.
HW: Where did the interest in dreams come from?
JP: Actually I awoke from a very fulfilling dream. While laying in bed and feeling this great emotion drift away, I think a lot of people have experienced that feeling from waking from a dream. You just go, “God, if I could just go back in for a few more minutes, everything would be a lot better today. Or if I could just stay in there for a week…” I like that idea and I felt like I hadn’t really seen that kind of emotion dramatized, trying to pull some sort of narrative thread out of that feeling that I felt, that I think other people feel. I just liked the idea to try to follow that thing….I knew I wanted it to just feel like this guy was getting a breath of fresh air and having a moment to just kind of be himself, or the best version of himself or who he wanted to be. So I wanted to do it really simply. We shot “reality” in 16mm so it was this grainy, flat, bad looking environment and moved him into this lush, high resolution world. I felt like for what I was interested in, it was enough to just do that through clarity.
HW: Have you been into other “brain” films like Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich or The Science of Sleep?
JP: Not at all. I think it came really organically. I had written the picture before I knew anything about Eternal Sunshine or any of those kinds of movies. I love that movie, but it came from a totally organic place. I think if there’s any movie that was in my mind when writing it, it was probably Stardust Memories. I always thought that was a great dream movie. It’s like Woody Allen‘s version of 8 ½ and I always liked that movie in the way it was constructed, but I’m not preoccupied with these tales of the subconscious. This is one that I kind of experienced and thought this could be interesting.
[IMG:R]HW: Was casting Gwyneth a given?
JP: The Gwyneth thing kind of came at the end. It was something we talked about through the process and I think I was just kind of too insecure to really engage in embracing it. I really wanted her to do it artistically. I felt like she’s one of the great actors of all time. It’s a kind of fortunate resource that in this case I was able to exploit to my benefit.
HW: Why did you make her character Jewish?
JP: Well, my father was Jewish. There was something written about that that I saw online and I didn’t like their interpretation that I was perpetuating some sort of shrewish Jewish character. Jewish men always get [to be seen as] these sweet, bumbling lovable guys and the women are always shrikes. I really didn’t like that. I just thought that was totally off base and totally wrong. She’s Jewish because I’m part Jewish. I was bar mitzvah-ed. They’re a big part of my world. I live in New York City. It’s just the character. It’s certainly not any sort of relating a general personality trait in Jewish women from New York, that they berate their boyfriends.
HW: Once you got her in the film, what was it like directing your sister?
JP: We have a very good relationship. I wish I could come up with a better term for what it is exactly, but our work environment with her is really gratifying. She’s an actor who really likes to put herself in the hands of a director. I think if there’s a disagreement about an approach to something, I think she’s the kind of actor who would sooner go with the director’s vision than dig in her heels for her own interpretation. I think she’s that somebody who’s written and is directing something, that there could be a point of view in place that maybe she wouldn’t fully have a handle on. That’s an extremely gratifying situation to have with an actress where they are really trusting you and letting you make it exactly how you want to be.
[IMG:L]HW: Did you ever have an interest in acting?
JP: No. Funnily enough, if I had any interest in acting, it’s probably happening now. I can’t do it. I have no talent for it but I think if you could be a somewhat successful actor and put yourself in your own movies, it could streamline the process tremendously and make everything a lot easier. So no, I never had any interest in it then. I don’t really have any interest in it now, but it would be a nice plus if I could do it in a pinch.
