Gwyneth Paltrow Said No to Sex Scene with Ethan Hawke in ‘Great Expectations’ — Here’s the Reason

by

Gwyneth Paltrow recently explained why she didn’t want to film an intimate scene with Ethan Hawke in the 1998 film, Great Expectations.

In a video released by Vanity Fair on December 17th, the actors reminisced about meeting for the first time, recalling the experience almost 30 years after working together on the movie based on Charles Dickens’ famous story.

The actors revealed that director Alfonso Cuarón proposed a love scene involving intimacy between Paltrow and Hawke’s characters. Paltrow admitted she was uncomfortable with the idea, worried her father would be deeply upset if he saw it.

Alfonso Cuarón described one incredibly intense scene to me—and it was…graphic, to say the least. He envisioned the camera literally traveling inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, starting with her stomach, then…well, let’s just say a very intimate area, culminating in an explosion of light at the moment of climax. I remember Ethan Hawke telling me he glanced over at Gwyneth after that explanation, and her face said it all. Apparently, she immediately told Cuarón, ‘Absolutely not!’

Gwyneth Paltrow, now 53, used to feel embarrassed about a scene from early in her career when her family saw it. She admitted it really bothered her at the time, but says she wouldn’t feel that way now. Ethan Hawke complimented her on how she handled it, saying she was assertive but not childish. He noted she understood how the industry worked, and how images like that could be used and what impact they might have on her father.

Looking back, Paltrow confessed she might have been overly cautious at the time, but Hawke disagreed, saying he didn’t think she was. Paltrow then admitted she was definitely concerned about it.

In the film Great Expectations, Gwyneth Paltrow played the role of Estella, and Ethan Hawke starred as Finnegan “Finn” Bell, a young man who becomes infatuated with her in this romantic story set in New York, written by Mitch Glazer.

Read More

2025-12-28 13:14