- 7 weeks ago
It's been 27 years since Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke starred in 'Great Expectations.' Gwyneth and Ethan reunite to discuss everything from meeting for the first time to their latest projects 'Marty Supreme' and 'Blue Moon.'
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00:00You know, I have one selfish question I have to ask about this movie.
00:03You kiss Timmy Chalamet in Central Park.
00:07Yes.
00:08Did you shoot it in Central Park?
00:09Yes.
00:10Did you kiss him in the same place he kissed me?
00:15No, honey, never.
00:17I think it's the same damn location.
00:20I think it is.
00:21I never would have done that.
00:22I would never have desecrated our make-out spot like that.
00:26Hi.
00:30I'm wearing white and I'm in black.
00:32No.
00:33It's perfect.
00:34I just did an interview where somebody asked me about the greatest kisses in screen history.
00:41And I said, you know what?
00:43I say that goes to us.
00:46Well, unfortunately, to talk about when Gwyneth and I first met, I'm embarrassed to be old enough to have to say that it's actually hard.
00:54And I remember that I met you through Robert Sean Leonard, who was my co-star in Dead Poets Society.
01:00Yes.
01:01And you guys were friends.
01:04We were dating, right?
01:05I didn't want to say it.
01:06That's okay.
01:07Yeah, yeah.
01:07You know.
01:08Ethan was very famous, you know, from Dead Poets Society.
01:10So we were all like a little intimidated.
01:13Like he had made it, you know.
01:14I thought I'd made it too.
01:15I acted like it.
01:19You know, we grew up in this time in New York City in the early 90s.
01:23It was so fun and specific.
01:25And there was like a whole big bunch of us.
01:28And we all just kind of fell in with each other.
01:31And it was all the kids.
01:33So many.
01:34It's the thing that I'm, for young people right now, the thing that I most would like to give them is community.
01:40There was about a six-month period where I would run into you at six or seven different places.
01:45At somebody's house, at a party, at a play opening, at the corner bistro, or this other bar.
01:50It was so much fun.
01:52Oh, my God.
01:53There were no phones.
01:54I mean, all these ridiculous.
01:55That's the first time we made out.
01:57Remember?
01:58At Truth or Dare, in my apartment on Prince Street?
02:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:01What a highlight.
02:03It was.
02:04I was very dis...
02:04I didn't want that to happen in that stupid game.
02:07I had different plans.
02:10After that moment.
02:11You're drooling.
02:15So, Bim Bell in New York.
02:19That's right.
02:21So, Ethan was already cast.
02:22He was the star.
02:23And I remember meeting with Alfonso and very excited.
02:27And then there was a little blip where someone at the studio thought I wasn't pretty enough to do it.
02:32Remember?
02:33That's the kind of shit that happens all the time.
02:35Yeah.
02:35And then I think he was convinced otherwise.
02:38And then I finally got the part.
02:40But it was cool because we were already friends.
02:42Yeah.
02:43And that was...
02:44It was strange for both of us, to be honest.
02:47And I'm kind of proud of us.
02:49We really believed in Alfonso.
02:50He was a lunatic.
02:52He is a lunatic.
02:53I'll say that on record.
02:54A wonderful lunatic.
02:55But we did recognize a major talent.
02:58Oh, I remember when I went to do my costume fitting for the movie.
03:02And I was like, wow.
03:05Everything is green.
03:06Green.
03:07And Juliana, the costum, I said, oh, right.
03:10He always leaves it to me to tell everybody.
03:12To explain this.
03:13Everything you're going to wear is green in the entire movie.
03:16I know.
03:17Even to the point where I was like, I think my character smokes Marlboros.
03:20And he was like, no, he doesn't.
03:21What do you mean?
03:22He smokes menthols.
03:23I'm like, I don't like menthols.
03:24Like, no, forget that.
03:25He's like, no, I can't have a red package.
03:27It's got to be a green package.
03:29Do you remember Alfonso pitching you the love scene?
03:32Oh, my God.
03:33He's like, and then he's going to go down on you.
03:35And I was like, oh, my God.
03:37My father's going to have a heart.
03:38He's going to go down on you.
03:39The camera is going to go down on your belly.
03:41And then it's going to go up your breasts.
03:43And then it's going to go on your face as you reach ecstasy.
03:46And when you reach ecstasy, the lights will explode like to the sun.
03:50And I remember going into the psyche.
03:53Alfonso, I'm never going to do that.
03:57But, you know, I had in my early career, I was really self-conscious about my dad and grandfather.
04:04I know you are.
04:05Seeing this kind of stuff, like, it really bothered me.
04:08Now I wouldn't care.
04:10I think that you had, in regards to, like, that scene, you had an awareness of how the business worked
04:16and the ways in which those kind of images could be manipulated and what it meant to your dad.
04:21Yeah.
04:22And you were amazing the way you handled that, which was that you weren't petulant.
04:25You were just saying, like, look, I'm not going to do this.
04:28Maybe I was too prudish in the moment.
04:30I don't think you are.
04:32I was definitely worried about it.
04:34But, you know, Ethan was always so interesting because you really never sold out.
04:39Like, a lot of us did for whatever reason.
04:43You know, I mean, it's sort of an ugly word.
04:45But, like, I always admired so much how you never did that.
04:48And, you know, you were so ruled by your artistic integrity and you were brave in your choices and as a writer, as a director.
04:58Like, he never compromised.
05:00Do you regret turning down some of those, like, big movies that you turned down?
05:04He turned down a lot of really big movies.
05:07There are days in my past that I regretted it.
05:13I thought those offers would always be there.
05:15And there's been many years where they were not.
05:20Right.
05:20Where I was like, damn it, I didn't know that that door closed.
05:24Right, right.
05:25You know?
05:26And there were some hard days in there.
05:28And then I found out that they weren't closed.
05:31Yeah.
05:32They weren't closed.
05:33You just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
05:36You know, you find a way.
05:38Yeah.
05:39I don't regret.
05:39I mean, I guess there are a couple of movies that I did that I'm not particularly proud of.
05:45Yeah.
05:45Definitely some things that I don't feel like, oh, that was just great.
05:50But when you look back, even at some, like, great, amazing careers of, you know, stars from the 40s and 50s.
05:58Like, I was looking at this the other day and some of them have been in, like, three, like, classic, amazing.
06:05And that's enough.
06:06And I feel like I was in at least three, maybe four, maybe, you know, where it's, like, these movies that were kind of indelible somehow.
06:16It's so hard to make one great movie.
06:21Yeah.
06:21If that happens, you start to be really grateful for that.
06:25And, yeah, you chase it again.
06:26And I thought you had a very unique challenge in your life.
06:31When we were young, your relaxation and your depth and your intelligence were available to you at a very young age.
06:41It has a lot to do with who you are and has a lot to do with an education that I think that your mother and father gave you non-verbally, perhaps.
06:50So that's kind of the, I think, the really underrated benefit of being a NEPO baby, if you will, which I am, you know, in a certain respect.
07:01And, you know, that term is quite ugly.
07:03But at the same time, it's like you're learning these lessons from your parents who are approaching a career with so much integrity and seriousness and such an incredible work ethic.
07:16People think it's about doors being opened for them.
07:18That doesn't matter.
07:21Doors get open and closed for people and they either blow it or they don't.
07:24But everybody has a deck given a hand of cards.
07:27How do you play it?
07:28Yeah.
07:28You know, and that's up to you and that's very difficult to do because there's a lot of disadvantages that come with being Bly Daner's daughter, you know, and you have to handle those well.
07:39And the thing about celebrity that people don't really understand is how isolating it is.
07:46And it's kind of punishment.
07:49And you're getting lots of things that people imagine that they want.
07:53And that is nice, but you're getting them behind a glass wall.
07:57What I felt so excited about seeing Marty Supreme in regards to our characters, I think both of our characters are people who are on the back nine of their celebrity.
08:08We write together for a quarter of a century.
08:10And the first show he writes with someone else is going to be the biggest hit he ever had.
08:15Am I bitter, Larry?
08:17Yes.
08:17There's a line that Linklater uses about our movie, which he wanted to be the tagline on the poster, which is forgotten but not gone.
08:25You know?
08:26Which is when you're still in the room and you still think you're fabulous, but everybody else has moved on.
08:32Yeah, and I think my character in the film, she walked away.
08:36You know, but her fame is what makes this young kid interested in her.
08:41You know, it's not her.
08:42You know, it's fame.
08:44I bet you can't name one film I've done.
08:47Let me show it.
08:48Because I stopped acting before you were born.
08:50You know, I have one selfish question I have to ask about this movie, which is that you kiss Timmy Chalamet in Central Park.
09:01Yes.
09:02Did you shoot it in Central Park?
09:03Yes.
09:04Did you kiss him in the same place he kissed me?
09:06No.
09:06Honey, never.
09:07I think it's the same damn location.
09:09Never.
09:10Never.
09:10I think it is.
09:11I never would have done that.
09:12I would never have desecrated our make-out spot like that.
09:16Okay.
09:16To change the subject, this director is so talented.
09:21He is.
09:22And I have to admit, when the movie started, like I'm watching 10 minutes of it, and it feels good to be in the hands of somebody who knows how to cut a movie.
09:34Yeah.
09:34How do you live?
09:35Well, I live with the confidence that if I believe in myself, the money will follow.
09:40And what do you plan to do if this whole dream of yours doesn't work out?
09:43That doesn't even enter my consciousness.
09:45If there was a biopic about me, I don't know.
09:47I think I sort of exist in these tropes, you know, in the culture in a lot of ways.
09:52Like, it would probably get a lot of things wrong.
09:55Like, I think very few people understand who I am unless they really know me and have known me for a long time and have, you know, known my insane sense of humor and have seen me, you know, in all kinds of scenarios.
10:09I feel like so much gets projected on me.
10:11I also think the idea that a biopic, the biopic would say so much more about the people who made it.
10:17Yes.
10:17What about me?
10:18So brilliant.
10:19They would be using me to some end that they found.
10:22I feel like when I've done some, like, if Larry Hart were to see this movie, I would think he would say, well, I just learned a lot about Richard Linkletter.
10:29Right.
10:30You know, I don't think he'd think he'd learn a damn thing about himself.
10:33Right.
10:34Right.
10:34That's so true.
10:36Do you still eat Taco Bell?
10:39All right, that's really funny.
10:41My idea when Gwyneth and I met of a special night, like, I got a part in a Broadway play, we're going to Taco Bell.
10:51I remember when I finished The Hot Estate, my first novel, when it's like, well, what'd you do when you finish?
10:56It's like, went to Taco Bell.
10:59It's a sickness.
11:00I mean, I think it's remarkable how we haven't changed.
11:03And I think that they're, like I was just saying to you, that I'm proud of that.
11:07Yeah.
11:08We were two extremely idealistic young people who had a great vision for what we wanted to do and how we wanted to contribute.
11:19And you were never ordinary.
11:22You've always been you.
11:24I think we are fundamentally very much the same people.
11:28I think, you know, we have had these lives that have taken all kinds of twists and turns.
11:34But I think we've both remained true to ourselves and who we are.
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