Gwyneth Paltrow shares very reasonable takes on superhero movies, dill

In many ways, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Hot Ones appearance was exactly what you might expect. She said she thought host Sean Evans might “groom her into the experience” of eating spicy wings. She announced that “heteros are so funny!” and used the word “tensegrity” to describe her business. She revealed that Bill Clinton fell asleep during a White House screening of Emma and jokingly proclaimed, “Fuck you, Bill Clinton!” Later, mid-answer, she killed a bug that had gotten into the studio and shouted, “Die, bitch!” You get the picture.

But when it came to the real meat of it (the content, not the chicken wings), the Goop founder had some measured and reasonable things to say. Citing American Fiction director Cord Jefferson’s suggestion that Hollywood should make “twenty $10 million movies” instead of “one $200 million movie,” Evans asked Paltrow how she feels about the ways Hollywood has changed since the beginning of her career.

“I absolutely understand where he’s coming from,” she responded. “You want to have the best chance of having a strong ROI. People put a lot of money into these things and they want them to be profitable. But I think if I look at the industry as a whole the sort of big push into superhero movies… I mean you can only make so many good ones that feel truly original and yet they are still always trying to reach as many people as possible which sometimes hinders quality or specificity or a real point of view.”

“I sometimes lament the fact, like, I look back at some of the movies that I made in the ‘90s and think, ‘that just wouldn’t get made now,’” she continued. “I do think that you get more diversity of art when there is less at stake and people can sort of express their true voice and make a film the way they want to make it. I think those are generally the more resonant ones.”

While Paltrow never critiqued her Marvel days to the same extent as, say, Dakota Johnson (she might have just forgotten the bad parts), the Madame Web actress did make a very similar point recently when she suggested that “art does not do well when it’s made by committee.” Maybe the tide is finally starting to turn.

In the meantime, Paltrow also offered another controversial but brave and perhaps objectively correct take on a different hot-button issue: herbs. “I love all herbs except for dill, which should be illegal,” she said. “It’s so gross. It ruins everything and anything it touches.” “I know it’s boring, but basil is my favorite,” she continued. If someone wants to make a $10 million movie about Gwyneth Paltrow going head-to-head with Alison Roman over their respective herb preferences, we would be there opening night.