Gwyneth Paltrow criticises superhero movies: “You can only make so many good ones”
The debate over the merits of the superhero genre is never too far away from the forefront of the conversation, with Gwyneth Paltrow the latest to weigh in on a form of filmmaking she’s become more familiar with than most.
The Academy Award-winning actor has effectively retired from the big screen. However, her filmography would look a great deal sparser were it not for her recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Pepper Potts, the paramour and business partner of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark.
In fact, since the first Iron Man was released in the summer of 2008, Paltrow has appeared in just 12 theatrically released narrative features, half of which took place in the comic book franchise. Not that she was particularly invested in her ongoing contributions, though, after director Jon Favreau famously had to remind her that she was, in fact, a part of the Spider-Man: Homecoming cast, despite Paltrow’s repeated protestations that she wasn’t.
The fact remains that she’s been in some of the most popular and lucrative superhero films of the 21st-century boom, and that experience caused her to reflect on the detrimental impact they’ve been having on cinema as a whole.
When accepting his Oscar for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’, American Fiction writer Cord Jefferson urged Hollywood that “instead of making one $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies, or 50 $4 million movies,” something Paltrow was completely on board with.
“I absolutely understand where he’s coming from,” she said on Hot Ones. However, in the past, the expensive and effects-heavy undertakings have been the movies that generated the most revenue, so it’s not as if the studios will actively sabotage their own earning potential.
Still, quantity has started to drastically outweigh quality, with Paltrow admitting that “you can only make so many good ones that feel truly original, and yet they’re still always trying to reach as many people as possible, which sometimes hinders quality or specificity or real point of view.”
Comic book blockbusters continue to arrive in cinemas on a regular basis, but the fact that the most recent one to debut was Madame Web is fairly indicative of Paltrow’s point. The bubble remains nowhere near bursting, but as so many high-profile industry figures continue to weigh in on the pros and cons of the artform, it’s clear that the majority of them would love to strike an ideal balance between art and commerce in a perfect world.
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