Robert Downey Jr. teased longtime friend and Iron Man costar Gwyneth Paltrow for apparently forgetting who Tom Holland is.
Downey, 60, feted Paltrow, 53, at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment gala in Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 3, and joked that despite being “impossibly intelligent,” the Oscar winner is “yet forever confused by the basic tenets of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its inhabitants.”
According to THR, the Iron Man actor said that Paltrow once asked him, “Who’s that?” and he responded, “That’s Spider-Man. He said his name was Peter. His character’s name is Peter. He’s Tom Holland. You’ve done four movies with him.”
Indeed, Paltrow and Holland, 29, have appeared in several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies together, including Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
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Paltrow joined the MCU in 2008 as Pepper Potts, Iron Man’s trusty assistant turned wife, however, the actress has gone viral in the past for appearing to forget about her role in the superhero franchise.
During a March interview with Vanity Fair, the Sliding Doors star expressed her surprise at learning that she’s been in seven Marvel movies.
“Did you ever imagine that when you signed on, you would end up in seven films?” Paltrow was asked, to which she responded, “That can’t be right. I can’t have been in seven. Is that true?”
In 2019, Paltrow made headlines when she forgot she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
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“One time I didn’t realize I was in Spider-Man. I was like doing a scene with Robert and Jon Favreau, so I thought it was a cameo,” she said in her March Vanity Fair interview. “They’re like, ‘It’s another…’ Anyway. And it turned out I was in Spider-Man and I didn’t even realize.”
During Wednesday’s gala, Downey also teased Paltrow over her separation from ex-husband Chris Martin, joking that the exes “introduced the planet to the possibility of ‘conscious uncoupling’ — remember that? — which Hollywood has done a great job not emulating.”
Downey also made a quip about Paltrow’s infamous ski crash trial before presenting her with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.
He joked, “In an age where we so crave leadership, example, integrity, resolve, and too often folks come up short, we have here a woman that is willing to go to trial, confronting her retired optometrist accuser regarding an alleged injury on a Deer Valley ski resort slope — and comport herself so honorably that a musical theater production is born to commemorate her moral strength, intestinal fortitude, not to mention her impeccably tasteful, civil suit chic-yet-practical courtroom attire.”
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“It’s time to recognize Gwyneth fuggin’ Paltrow,” Downey said, introducing the actress to the stage.
In her acceptance speech, Paltrow heaped praise on Downey, saying, “Robert, I love you so much. You are the older brother I never had and wasn’t sure I wanted, but I’m so grateful to you for being the best partner on screen — for always being the most honest and brilliant reflection back, not just about me but about us, our families and the world.”
The Marty Supreme actress also gave a shout-out to her husband, Glee cocreator Brad Falchuk, describing him as “the most feminist man I know,” who “lets me be my full self every day.”
