Gwyneth Paltrow says “Iron Man” costar Robert Downey Jr. could 'always get me back' into acting

"Robert Downey Jr. could probably always get me back," she said. "You know, to some degree."

Gwyneth Paltrow could be persuaded to act again… but only if the right person calls.

In a Monday interview, the Goop founder revealed to Entertainment Tonight that despite being preoccupied as CEO of her lifestyle brand, Goop, her Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. could convince her to get back on camera.

"It would be very hard for me to do any acting right at the moment, just because of my job," Paltrow explained. "But, I guess Robert Downey Jr. could probably always get me back."

With a laugh, she added, "You know, to some degree."

Downey Jr.'s influence should come as no surprise. The actors became close after years of sharing the screen and even before Iron Man prompted a cinematic universe, Paltrow told EW in 2007 that Downey Jr. was a deciding factor in her signing onto the film in the first place. She explained that the project caught her attention "because of the people involved."

Paltrow said, "It had nothing to do with the size of the budget. It was like, if I got a call that there's a six-million-dollar movie, and these are the people, I'd do it. I've always wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr. He's a genius, and I had never been asked to do a film with him before."

As for why she has yet to return, Paltrow points to the loss of Tony Stark, who died at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

"We just stopped doing it because Iron Man died," Paltrow told her Instagram followers earlier this year. "And, why do you need Pepper Potts without Iron Man? I don't know. Call up Marvel and yell at them, not me. I'm just sitting here."

Iron Man, the movie that launched the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2008, was the first time that Downey Jr. and Paltrow shared the screen as Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, a dream team and eventual couple very much on the cusp of their heroic future. Since then, Paltrow has appeared in so many MCU projects that she can't always keep track of them. But ever since Tony Stark took his final stand at the end of Avengers: Endgame, the duo have not returned.

Outside of lending her voice to She Said, the film tracing the bombshell investigation into disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and Ryan Murphy's The Politician, Paltrow has not appeared on the big screen since Endgame in 2019. For that, she credits Goop, the 15 year old company that she didn't expect to become as big as it has, though she is "thrilled" by the success.

"It's taken a lot of hard work and perseverance, but you know, I do it with so much love, and so I'm glad to see that we've been able to build year over year. It's thrilling," Paltrow said.

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