4 minutes read
Gwyneth Paltrow explains why she refused to film sex scene with Ethan Hawke
Joshua N.
Gwyneth Paltrow revealed why she was "really bothered" by the prospect of a sex scene with Ethan Hawke back in 1998.
The Iron Man star has never been shy in speaking about her on-screen sex scenes, having previously spoken about her steamy moments with Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme.
But this wasn't always the case, as the 53-year-old was once quite closed off when it came to shooting some intimate scenes with co-stars.
Rewind the clock 28 years, and an up-and-coming Paltrow was shooting romantic drama Great Expectations opposite Ethan Hawke.
While it was early on in her career, Paltrow reflected on the decision and explained why she refused to shoot an intimate scene for the title, in a video interview with Vanity Fair.
The 2025 interview featured both her and Hawke as they looked back at the 1998 retelling of the Charles Dickens novel.
Paltrow explained her decision
Paltrow played Estella opposite Hawke's Finn, as the pair looked back at the old flick, which was directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
She remembered declining a sex scene, as Hawke pointed out: "Do you remember Alfonso pitching you the love scene?"
Paltrow replied: “Oh my God,” before explaining that the suggested scene involved Estella receiving oral sex from Finn, but the way it was described by Cuarón was recalled by her former co-star.
The Sinister actor remembered the director saying: “The camera is going to go down your belly, and then it's going to go up your breasts, and then it's going to go in your face as you reach ecstasy.
“And then when you reach ecstasy, the light will explode like to the sun.”
He then laughed, adding: “And I remember looking at Gwyneth, and Gwyneth is like, 'Alfonso, I'm never going to do that.’”
The actress explained: "I was like, 'Oh, my God, my father’s going to have a heart attack,'
“[I felt] really self-conscious about my dad and grandfather seeing this kind of stuff," she said at the time.
Hawke had her back, as he also said: "You had an awareness of the way that the business works, and the ways in which those kinds of images could be manipulated and what it meant to your dad.”
But while Paltrow admitted she was "really bothered" at the time, she admitted that "now, I wouldn't care."
Just later that year, she starred in another steamy romance title titled Shakespeare in Love, opposite Joseph Fiennes, which resulted in her first Oscar.
From that point on, she would be open to intimate scenes throughout her career.
Paltrow returned to acting with Marty Supreme
The actress returned to the big screen last year in the sports comedy-drama Marty Supreme, starring alongside Timothee Chalamet.
The A24 film featured several intimate scenes between the pair and marked her first major screen role in years.
While promoting the movie, Paltrow was asked how she would spend her final month if she knew she only had weeks left to live.
“I’d have a lot of sex. A lot,” she told The Sun.
She also reflected on filming with Chalamet, saying: “I did enjoy it. It was really, really fun … I mean, there’s a lot of making out and a lot of, you know, there’s a few sex scenes and that kind of thing,” she said at the time.