Amnesia Assemble.
Gwyneth Paltrow was in disbelief learning that she’s played Pepper Potts in seven Marvel movies during a new video interview with Vanity Fair where she watched clips from her most notable roles.
After showing Paltrow, 52, a scene from 2008’s “Iron Man,” the interviewer asked her, “Did you ever imagine that when you signed on you would end up in seven films?”
Gwyneth Paltrow in her Vanity Fair interview. Vanity Fair
Paltrow learns she’s been in seven Marvel movies. Vanity Fair
Paltrow in her Vanity Fair interview. Vanity Fair
“That can’t be right,” Paltrow bluntly said. “I can’t have been in seven. Is that true?”
The Oscar winner also mentioned how she completely forgot she appeared in 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
“One time I didn’t realize I was in ‘Spider-Man.’ I was like doing a scene with Robert and Jon Favreau so I thought it was a cameo,” she explained. “They’re like, ‘It’s another…’ Anyway. And it turned out I was in ‘Spider-Man’ and I didn’t even realize.”
Paltrow in “Iron Man” in 2008. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. in “Iron Man 2.” ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Paltrow, Brie Larson, Pom Klementieff and Letitia Wright in “Avengers: Endgame.” ©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett / Everett CollectionPaltrow showed her lack of Marvel knowledge again when asked if she thinks she’ll be in the newest MCU film “Captain America: Brave New World.”
“What is that? Oh, no. I don’t think so,” she replied. “I think I would’ve known by now. I may… we’ll see. I don’t know.”
Paltrow said of Marvel, “They keep it all very top secret, you know. They think they’re the CIA or something over there. That it’s like national secrets. Like who’s doing what and who. That’s why I didn’t know I was in ‘Spider-Man!’ ‘Cause they never said. There were no signs that said ‘Spider-Man’. The script didn’t say ‘Spider-Man’. It’s all a secret.”
In addition to “Iron Man” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Paltrow appeared in “Iron Man 2” (2010), “The Avengers” (2012), “Iron Man 3” (2013), “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019).
When shown the clip of her and Robert Downey Jr. in her first MCU movie, Paltrow remarked, “It’s not a great wig, guys. Let’s face it.”
Paltrow went on to say, “We had so much fun on this movie. It felt like an independent movie in a way. Jon and Robert and I improvised all day every day. There was a lot of rewriting. We’d go to Jon’s trailer in the morning and the three of us would improv, which is not typical to do that on a big budget action movie. Jon is so brilliant and he really wanted the movie to feel like it had a reality to it and that it was very character-based.”
Paltrow on the cover of Vanity Fair. Ned Rogers / Vanity FairThe Goop founder also recalled that the “Iron Man” team felt “no pressure” making the film at the time.
“Nobody thought it would turn into anything,” she explained. “The studio felt they had taken this big risk with Robert as a leading man and it probably won’t even be a hit. And then it came out and it changed the course of that studio.”
Paltrow forgot she was in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” when she appeared on Favreau and chef Roy Choi’s Netflix cooking series “The Chef Show” in 2019.
“We weren’t in ‘Spider-Man,’ ” Paltrow said.
“Yes, we were. You were in ‘Spider-Man,’ ” Favreau replied.
Downey Jr. and Paltrow in “Iron Man 3.” ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett CollectionShe also previously confessed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” about “Spider Man,” starring Tom Holland: “I never actually saw the movie.”
During a 2017 interview with Elle, Paltrow said about the MCU movies, “To be honest, I haven’t seen very many of them. It’s really stupid and I’m sorry, but I’m a 47-year-old mother.”
Paltrow is often in disbelief about all things Marvel. For example, she couldn’t comprehend the news that Downey Jr., 59, is returning to Marvel to play the villain Doctor Doom in the next two “Avengers” movies.
“I don’t get it, are you a baddie now?” Paltrow wrote in the comments section of her co-star’s Instagram post after the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con panel announcement.
Paltrow as Pepper Potts in “Iron Man 2.” ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett CollectionHer confusion was understandable, though, considering Iron Man was killed in “Avengers: Endgame.”
Last year, Paltrow also shaded the MCU on “Hot Ones” when she agreed with Cord Jefferson saying in his Oscars acceptance speech that “a 200 million-dollar movie is a risk.”
“I absolutely understand where he’s coming from,” Paltrow said. “If I look at the industry as a whole, this big push into superhero movies … you can only make so many good ones that feel truly original.
“And yet they’re still always trying to reach as many people as possible, which sometimes hinders quality or specificity or real point of view,” she added.
