Interview of the week: Gwyneth Paltrow

NEW YORK, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Slender, Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow insists her new comedy "Shallow Hal" is a valentine to overweight people, not a joke at their expense.

"I think that the film is incredibly embracing and warm," said the 29-year-old star of "Shakespeare in Love" and "Bounce."

"The message of 'Shallow Hal' is that it doesn't matter if you're extremely overweight or not. Like, that is a ridiculous thing that is sociologically imposed on us. You know, that we feel that it's unacceptable to be fat when it has nothing to do with who the person actually is. I mean, I didn't feel at all that it was offensive. And I know heavy people who love the message of this film and are totally glad that this is a subject that is being explored," she explained.

In the movie, Paltrow dons a fat suit to play Rosemary, a morbidly obese woman. Jack Black ("High Fidelity," "Saving Silverman") plays Hal, the superficial womanizer who falls in love with Rosemary after he is hypnotized and subconsciously persuaded to see only someone's inner beauty.

Although known for her outstanding performances in period pieces made in the 1990s and the poise and grace she demonstrates when interviewed by the press, few people would describe her as laugh-out-loud funny. But, the Farrelly brothers apparently knew she could pull it off, and Paltrow said she was glad to oblige. Then again, this isn't the first time the Farrelly brothers have convinced a well-respected, beautiful young actress to do outrageous things in an over-the-top comedy. Cameron Diaz headlined "There's Something About Mary" and Renee Zellweger was the female lead in "Me, Myself and Irene."

"I met Bobby Farrelly first. And he said to me, 'You know, we really want to do a movie with you.' And I thought, 'Great! Hey, I would so love to take off the corset and de-accent, and just ... do something fun, and, you know, different and sort of unexpected.' Which is what this film is," Paltrow recalled.

"I really like their sense of humor," she continued.

"And I think they walk that line [of good taste] very gently. Like instead of poking fun at people who are overweight, they just sort of said: 'Hey. This is something that society feels. And we're gonna turn the whole thing upside down, and try to make people not feel this way.' So, the only jokes [made at overweight people's expense] in the movie are made by an idiot, you know, Jason Alexander's character. He's like totally a fool in the way that he perceives things. And he's only so obstinate about it because he has his own thing that he has an insecurity about. So, 'Shallow Hal' is about letting go of your perceptions of those kinds of things. And about being accepting of yourself and of other people. But, I like making fun of myself, and taking things a little bit further," she added.

Although filming the movie was a positive experience, Paltrow sounded like she would rather wear a corset than a fat suit any day.

"The fat suit was ... profoundly uncomfortable and suffocating because they basically crazy glue it to your face. So, it took about three hours to get it on and an hour to get it off. And getting it off was almost worse because they had to pour this incredibly thick, sort of syrupy stuff on you. It had the viscosity of like, I don't even know what. Maybe sort of like Vaseline, but in liquid form. And they would pour it all down in your eyes... Ooh, it was terrible!" she said.

Paltrow admitted she was very nervous the first time she put on the suit and went out in public to try and get used to the extra pounds.

"It was actually very interesting," she noted. "When I walked around, nobody would even make eye contact with me. Like nobody would even look in my direction because I think when you get a sense of someone being slightly outside what we all consider normal, you think, 'Oh, it's polite not to look.' But, actually, it's incredibly isolating. And it really upset me."

Paltrow went on to say that just because she looks the way she does, doesn't mean she doesn't feel lonely or insecure at times.

"I think that when you're a person who is so kind of out there in the public eye, and people are constantly criticizing every aspect about you, that happens. Like somebody told me the other day that there was a thing in the New York Post in the Page Six column that I was spotted somewhere, and that I've gotten fat. So, now it seems that I've gotten fat and unattractive, at least, according to some guy who writes for Page Six. But, if you let yourself be driven crazy by that kind of scrutiny and the things people say, you could develop insecurities about anything. I, of course, have insecurities already, being a woman. You know, based on physical things that I wish were different, or whatever. But, I have to tune that out...[or] then you start thinking, 'Is that really true? Am I actually fat and have I gained weight?'" she confided.

As for how she feels about her looks, Paltrow said she knows they won't last forever and explained that that is one of the reasons why she has been working so hard on a variety of projects in the last few years.

"Beauty fades! Like I just turned 29, so I probably don't have that many good years left in me. Eventually, I won't, you know, be cast as the type of females that I'm cast as now. That's why you hope that you can use your talent to keep working past that desirable female age, and that kind of thing. But for the time being, I just try to focus as much as I can on my work and what I'm supposed to do, as opposed to how I'm supposed to look," she stated.

So, how does one deal with living in a fish bowl like she does?

"It doesn't matter," she said firmly. "And it shouldn't matter if I've gained weight. And it shouldn't matter if a tabloid reporter finds me less attractive because I've gained weight. I'm still the same person, and I'm a valuable person and weight has nothing to do with it...."

Regarded by many journalists as a straight shooter, Paltrow said she doesn't bother trying to sweet-talk the press or trying to get them to see her in a particular light.

"I think it's a waste of time for people to be interviewed and say things that, you know, they think other people want to hear. Or try and come off in a certain way. So, I try to be as honest as I can be. And a lot of people make whatever judgments they're going to make about that," she explained.