Black Dog Films

Gwyneth Paltrow isn't used to signing up for an acting job, sight unseen.

But that essentially is what happened to her with Iron Man.

She knew the film opening Friday was based on a Marvel Comics comic strip about a billionaire weapons manufacturer named Tony Stark -- an eccentric genius who builds himself an iron-plated suit which also contains a lethal armoury capable of vanquishing the most vicious of adversaries. She knew she would be playing Pepper Potts, Tony's superbly efficient secretary who has unfulfilled romantic yearnings for her unpredictable boss. And she knew she would be playing opposite Robert Downey Jr. and that Jon Favreau would direct.

"It was weird signing up for something and thinking: wait a minute -- I have to sign for three at a time? It was such a very new experience for me."

But it was weirder not knowing anything about the story line.

"I'm so glad I did it because even though it was a genre I had never done before, I was curious about how it was all going to work -- especially since Jon wouldn't let me read the script."
Instead, Paltrow had to sign on the basis of a few pages.

"It was terrible because he would not let me read it," she giggles. Then Favreau muddied the waters even more, telling her the script that did exist at this point was not the movie he intended to make. He did pledge that the characters would be "specific and well-drawn" and that she would have a lot of fun making it. Which she did.

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