Gwyneth Paltrow's Spicy Superhero Movie Hot Take Makes Sense Amid Marvel Downfall
Gwyneth Paltrow — Oscar-winning performer and apparent wellness guru — has some thoughts about the viability of superhero movies.
Roughly ten minutes into her appearance on "Hot Ones,", the Goop founder discussed the speech delivered by newly-minted Oscar winner Cord Jefferson, who made an earnest plea for major Hollywood producers to invest in smaller projects after taking home the statue for his "American Fiction" screenplay.
"I absolutely understand where he's coming from," Paltrow told host Sean Evans. "You want to have the best chance of having a strong ROI [return on investment]. People put a lot of money into these things and they want them to be profitable."
Paltrow then broached the subject of superhero films, saying she thinks the model of making them is simply flawed: "But I think 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." The Hollywood star and entrepreneur makes a pretty good point, especially considering the current diminishing returns provided by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. So what did Jefferson say in his speech that inspired Paltrow to respond while eating spicy chicken wings?
Wait, what does this have to do with Cord Jefferson and his Oscars speech?
During the 2024 Academy Awards, first-time director Cord Jefferson — known for writing on popular shows like "Master of None," "The Good Place," and "Watchmen," the latter of which earned him an Emmy — ended up beating out an impressively stacked category to win best adapted screenplay. Jefferson's 2023 directorial debut "American Fiction," adapted from the novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett, tells the story of author Thelonious Monk (Jeffrey Wright, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role), who leans into Black stereotypes for a novel as a joke ... only to see it become an unexpected hit.
While accepting his award, Jefferson made an impassioned plea to Hollywood power players. "I understand that this is a risk-averse industry, I get it," Jefferson stated. "But $200 million movies are also a risk. And it doesn't always work out, but you take the risk anyway. Instead of making one $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies. Or 50 $4 million movies." Jefferson is speaking from experience here; the budget for "American Fiction" was under $10 million, and while it made a decent yet modest $23 million at the box office, it was hailed as one of the best movies of 2023 and scored a handful of huge Oscar nods, including one for best picture, one for Wright, one for supporting actor Sterling K. Brown, and obviously, one for adapted screenplay. Jefferson's words about big-budget movies were correct but pretty mild; as for Gwyneth Paltrow, she's never been quiet about her relative scorn for superhero movies.
Gwyneth Paltrow's indifference for superhero movies is sort of legendary
Though Gwyneth Paltrow didn't specifically mention the MCU with her "Hot Ones" comments, she has been pretty indifferent about her time as Pepper Potts. During an interview with her "Spider-Man: Homecoming" co-star Jon Favreau on his Netflix series "The Chef Show," she famously forgot she was even in the movie. (In fact, she kept telling Favreau that she definitely wasn't in the movie while he insisted that she was; she was billed above fellow Oscar winner Marisa Tomei and Emmy winner Zendaya in the film's credits.) Later, Paltrow told late night host Jimmy Kimmel that she'd never even seen "Spider-Man: Homecoming," which checks out.
This is to say nothing of the fact that Paltrow keeps forgetting she knows her MCU co-stars like Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan and the fact that she has been quite clear that "Avengers: Endgame" was her last appearance in the cinematic universe (unless Robert Downey Jr. somehow returns). It wasn't always like this; the actor has admitted to truly enjoying the early days of the MCU. However, post-"Avengers: Endgame" Paltrow has confessed how little she pays attention to Marvel movies. During an interview in Elle, Paltrow revealed, "It is confusing because there are so many Marvel movies, and 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." Fair enough.
Naturally, Paltrow isn't the only Hollywood star that looks at superhero flicks with a particular indifference. In fact, there are quite a few directors who flat out refuse to direct a superhero movie.