Earlier this year, Gwyneth Paltrow (incredulously) outed herself for not knowing she appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The revelation arrived during an episode of Jon Favreau’s The Chef Show on Netflix, and this bizarre happening was followed by Sebastian Stan revealing that, despite meeting multiple times and appearing in some of the same movies, Paltrow also had no idea who he was. Kevin Feige later lightly roasted Paltrow over the Spider-Man business, and now, Favreau’s offering an explanation of why this may have taken place.
Spoiler alert: Favreau, who directed Paltrow in the first two Iron Man movies believes that Paltrow’s artistry might be to blame. He’s very serious here and says that Paltrow’s inherent trust in directors might lead to tunnel vision and only focusing on being “in the moment,” so she doesn’t dwell on what she’s done as an actor. Here’s what The Mandalorian helmer said while speaking to Access Hollywood during a D23 red carpet moment:
“I know with Gwyneth, she also doesn’t dwell on or look at her performances in the past. She’ll show up at the premiere, she’ll show up on set. She doesn’t like to linger on playback or see things. Some actors, like me, I tend to like to look at the screen and watch what I did and come back, but she very much trusts the director. She does the work, she sees the film at the premiere, and then she moves on to other things.”
Well, there appear to be no photographs of Paltrow at the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere, so she didn’t attend that one, but perhaps she believed that her scenes were for another Avengers movie. It’s possible! They shot these things back-to-back in some instances, so maybe she deserves the benefit of the doubt. Favreau seems to think that’s the case, and he added that she’s so “focused” and “talented” and “authentic” during performances, that her portrayal of Pepper Potts is “part of why the MCU has been so successful.” Aaaand that might be a step too far. Watch Favreau speak in an Access clip below.