In recent years, Gwyneth Paltrow has made her love-hate relationship with her acting career known since shifting her focus to her lifestyle brand Goop. The actress has bluntly said that she’ll “literally never” be the star of another movie again due to the burnout she felt following her success in the early ‘00s. Though, the Marvel actress did recently show some love toward one of her films for its big anniversary.
Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t like to watch her acting work – hence her infamous confusion about having a role in Spider-Man: Homecoming. But during a Tribeca Film Festival virtual panel, she shared her fondness for 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums, and she has a sweet reason why she sets it apart from her other work:
I have a memory of my dad visiting. He came the day that we did a scene where I'm getting off the bus and Richie's picking me up, and my dad was there. It was a very special day. I also really hate, hate, hate seeing myself in a movie ever and it's kind of like the only scene that I can watch of myself of my whole career.
The scene Gwyneth Paltrow is referring to (via USA Today) is when her character, Margot, steps off the Green Line bus and reunites with Luke Wilson’s Richie as “Three Days” by Nico plays in the background. It’s a slow motion sequence that ends with the characters embracing. While speaking on a panel with the cast and filmmaker Wes Anderson for the film's 20th anniversary, the Iron Man star shared that the scene holds a close place in her heart.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s father, Bruce Paltrow, was a TV and movie director and producer, and visited the set of The Royal Tenenbaums on the day they shot the scene. Therefore, it has had special meaning to the 48-year-old actress following his death in 2002. It was likely one of Paltrow’s last career moments she got to share with her late father.
Bruce Paltrow died at the age of 58 while vacationing in Rome, Italy to celebrate Gwyneth’s 30th birthday. He had oral cancer for a number of years before his death, and losing a parent anytime, especially just as one enters their thirties, certainly would make one hold on to whatever small moment one can.
Gwyneth Paltrow was dating Chris Martin of Coldplay at the time, and his popular song “Fix You” is reportedly about her grief following her father’s death. All things considered, The Royal Tenenbaums is a great pick from Paltrow if she’s only going to choose one performance to go back to. The movie was one of Wes Anderson’s early movies, but still one of his most beloved.
The movie co-written and co-produced by Owen Wilson tells the quirky story of a family who end up living under the same roof. It also stars Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman. The filmmaker is set to bring his style back to theaters with The French Dispatch's release on October 22. Check out CinemaBlend’s list of upcoming 2021 movies in the meantime.
