Gwyneth played Pepper Potts in the MCU, starting with 2008’s Iron Man. She ultimately retired the character with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, telling Variety, “I mean, I’m a bit old to be in a suit and all that at this point. I feel very lucky that I did it, because I actually got talked into it. I was friends with [director] Jon Favreau. It was such a wonderful experience making the first Iron Man and then to watch how important it has become to fans.”
When asked about American Fiction director Cord Jefferson’s plea at the Oscars for studios to make “20 $10 million movies” instead of one “$200 million” movie, Gwyneth replied, “I absolutely understand where he’s coming from.”
“It makes sense, right? You want to have the best chance of having a strong [return on investment]. People put a lot of money into these things, and they want them to be profitable.”
“But I think, if I look at the industry as a whole, the sort of big push into superhero movies — I mean, 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.”
Speaking to her own career history in mid-budget movies, she continued, “I sometimes lament the fact [that] I look back at some of the movies I made in the ’90s and think that just wouldn’t get made now.”
“I do think that you do get more diversity of art when there’s less at stake and people can sort of express their true voice and make a film the way they want to make it,” she concluded. “And then I think those are generally the more resonant ones.”
You can watch the full interview here.