American actress and businesswoman, Gwyneth Paltrow is best known for her roles as smart and complex characters. But according to her, the only movie of hers she can still watch today is The Royal Tenenbaums, a dramedy by Wes Anderson from 2001.
This offbeat movie follows the story of a messed-up family that tries to reunite. Their estranged dad, Royal (Gene Hackman), wants to reconcile with his wife (Anjelica Huston) and their three adult children: Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson), and Margot (Paltrow).
In the film, Paltrow plays the character of Margot Tenenbaum — an award-winning playwright facing a long-lasting writer’s block. She’s married to Raleigh St. Clair (an older neurologist), but Margot really doesn’t love him.
Even though she was initially confused with the movie’s tone, at the same time, she was very excited to play the role of Margot because it was the right way for her to start smoking again.
Gwyneth Paltrow was Excited to Play the Role of Chain-Smoking Margot Tenenbaum
To celebrate the movie’s 20th anniversary, The Royal Tenenbaums was shown outdoors at New York’s Battery Park during the Tribeca Festival (reported via USA Today). Gwyneth Paltrow, along with co-stars Anjelica Huston, Alec Baldwin, Luke and Owen Wilson, and director/co-writer Wes Anderson, participated in a virtual panel discussion after the screening.
In the panel discussion, Paltrow recalled initially being confused by the movie’s tone (because she hadn’t done much comedy) but eventually settled into it after a few days. She also expressed her love for working with Anderson. The Thanks for Sharing star said:
“It was such a wonderful relief, in a way, to be with a director who was so incredibly specific about what he wanted.”
The actress continued:
“I found it actually really relaxing and great because I barely had to do anything!” She also remembered being particularly pleased by one of those specifics: “I felt very excited because it was a legal way for me to start smoking again.”
Paltrow was excited because she starred as a chain-smoking Margot in the movie. She is a heavy secret smoker (but doesn’t want anybody to know about it). That’s the reason she hides her cigarettes in a cotton buds box. Young Margot starts smoking at just 12 years old.
Gwyneth Paltrow was a Heavy Smoker Back Then Too
In an interview with Goop, the actress said that she “quit smoking at 24” but started again during The Royal Tenenbaums because her character smoked so much, so she “got addicted again” and “then stopped again.”
Now, the star into a healthy lifestyle. But there was a time when she used to be a heavy smoker during her teenage years. Eventually, the now 51-year-old quit smoking when she was pregnant with her first child.
