“Wow, it's been a long time. I think more than five. I think seven, maybe. Something like that,” Gwyneth Paltrow said as she sat down for an interview about Marty Supreme, the film marking her return to the big screen. It has indeed been six years since she last appeared in the TV series The Politician and the film Avengers: Endgame. What ultimately pulled her out of semi-retirement was director Josh Safdie, who personally visited her home to convince her the time had come.
Safdie told ynet that he had her in mind from the start but was warned she would never accept because she had retired. He decided to meet her anyway. She had another meeting planned afterward — or perhaps a backup plan to avoid committing — but canceled it. She was all in.
Marty Supreme is a semi-fictional sports drama set in 1950s New York, centered on Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, a driven Jewish pingpong hustler dreaming of greatness in a sport no one takes seriously. Inspired by real-life Jewish table tennis legend Marty Reisman, the film follows Marty’s upbringing in a Jewish neighborhood on the Lower East Side and explores the intertwined forces of family, identity and ambition.
She portrays Kay, a talented actress navigating the pressures of her career and personal life. The character is married, though the relationship is strained, reflecting the era’s expectations of women. Her connection to Marty is intense and transactional: she is drawn to his ambition, which reignites her own passion for performance, while he sees her as an opportunity. Their dynamic blends mentorship, attraction and a subtle power struggle.
Many of the main characters are Jewish, as is Safdie, whose gritty New York sensibility is unmistakable. He and his brother Benny rose to prominence with films like Uncut Gems before he embarked on this more personal solo project.
How did Josh convince you to take this role?
“The timing was meaningful. My children were all going off to college. It was my first time without kids at home in 20 years. It felt like a scary but new chapter. Then Josh called.
“My brother, who’s a filmmaker, said, ‘Whatever it is, you have to do this. Josh is so talented.’ I watched Uncut Gems and thought it was brave and intense. Meeting Josh, I saw he’s a real artist, like the auteurs I worked with early in my career. I fell in love with Kay’s complexity. I was nervous — it had been a long time since I had to dig deep into a role — but I thought, my kids are on the East Coast, so... fuck it, I’ll go to New York and make a movie.”
Did you crave coming back to acting, or were you fully focused on entrepreneurship?
“For years, I focused intensely on entrepreneurship and lost touch with cinema. Entrepreneurship is exhilarating in its own way. I never regretted stepping away — it was right for me and my kids. But when Josh came to me, I was happy to come back.”
Your kids probably got a kick out of seeing their mom in a movie with Timothée Chalamet, although they’re used to famous people.
“They do meet famous people, but to them they're kind of boring. But the Timothée Chalamet thing was very interesting. He really is the face of a generation. My son thinks he’s so cool, and when my daughter saw Call Me By Your Name, she was swooning in the kitchen. My step-kids too. They were thrilled.
“I think they were less thrilled about the paparazzi photos of us kissing in the park. That was slightly embarrassing for them, especially my son.”
In a previous interview you mentioned you didn’t want an intimacy coordinator and that you’re from an era when actors just got naked and got in bed.
“You’ll be shocked to know I was misquoted, which has never happened to me before. I thought, ‘Wait, what? That’s not what I meant.’
“I meant it’s a new development that came downstream from the Me Too movement, which is so important and something I took part in. I was trying to say I grew up in a different time when we didn’t have that. For me, it almost made me more self-conscious to have someone choreographing it because that’s not how I was trained.
“But I’m glad it exists. When I think about my daughter, if she wants to act and she comes up in this industry, she will learn to do a sex scene with an intimacy coordinator who will explain things and set boundaries.”
She shares her daughter, Apple, 21, and son, Moses, 19, with her ex-husband, singer Chris Martin.
Your daughter is stepping into the spotlight. What is your advice to her?
“She’s amazing — funny, smart, a senior in university doing a pre-law degree. I think she might follow in my footsteps. When my kids want advice, I’m happy to share. But you also have to let kids find their own path. The best thing is to acknowledge who they are and let them fly, then be there when they need you.”
She was born into a mixed family. Her father, Bruce Paltrow, was Jewish and came from a long rabbinical lineage, while her mother, Blythe Danner, is Christian. She has often spoken about the warmth, traditions and family-centered spirit of the Jewish side of her upbringing. Her childhood included holidays from both traditions, something she says gave her a deeper sense of identity and belonging. Today, she chooses to pass on the Jewish traditions to her children.
She has said she is raising her children in the Jewish faith and even considered formally converting. She also studies Kabbalah and is close with Michael Berg, co-director of the Kabbalah Centre in New York.
Last Hanukkah, she lit the first candle with Israeli advocate Noa Tishby. In a video Tishby posted on Instagram, she shared childhood memories of celebrating the holiday. Before lighting the candle, she said she had always felt a strong pull toward her Jewish roots. “I recently discovered that I come from a line of 17 generations of rabbis,” she said, then recited the blessing in fluent Hebrew.
In the film, you ask Marty if he has a plan B if pingpong doesn’t work out. Did you have a backup plan before acting?
“I think if you have backup plans, it’s hard to manifest your primary dream. You need almost delusional belief to make it real. A plan B undercuts the mission. Life can be sobering, and you might need to change direction, but while you’re holding your dream — no plan B. It takes luck, hard work and talent, but not only luck.”
How did you balance acting, entrepreneurship and parenthood — and did you worry about life moving too fast?
“My life happened in chapters. In my 20s, cinema was the dream. Then I had my daughter, and parenthood became its own dream. Later came the entrepreneurial one. Unexpectedly, the dream of cinema returned. Josh really pulled me back to that part of myself. But it’s hard to do everything at once. I think of life in chapters, not as juggling everything simultaneously.”
Your character looks like an old Hollywood actress. Who inspired you while portraying her?
“I imagined a darker Grace Kelly — someone who gave up an important career for marriage and lost something in the process. Women then couldn’t have bank accounts or credit cards; they depended on husbands. Kay made a choice that wasn’t self-honoring. She tried to make it work, then lost her child and broke. When she meets Marty, a spark returns, even though it gets crushed. Playing that complexity was a wonderful challenge.”
What does Kay mean to Marty?
“Not very much, honestly. She knows he’s a hustler because she has that streak too. He sees her as status and money. She knows it, but she needs to feel alive again, and he awakens something in her. He’s part of why she tries pursuing her passion again. But the relationship is sad and transactional. Later in life, maybe he remembers it as a special moment.”
So you are officially unretired now, open to new projects?
“We’ll see. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life is long and interesting and takes many twists and turns and has lots of surprises. I’m open to doing more films if the experience can be like this one, which was so special and something I’ll really cherish.”