Paltrow Hits The Big Time With Aplomb

After her critically acclaimed performance in 1993’s “Flesh and Bone,” Gwyneth Paltrow thought she knew what it might be like to get labeled “The Next Hot Young Thing.”

Then she started dating Brad Pitt.

“Nothing can quite prepare you for how it feels,” Paltrow says of the ensuing media blitz, though she admits her show-biz upbringing (her mother is actress Blythe Danner, her father is TV producer Bruce Paltrow) cushioned the shock.

“It helps having grown up in it, because I understand it much better. I’m not just awed by the whole thing. It’s probably less foreign to me than to someone who’s just off the bus from Kansas.”

So what does it feel like to be one half of Hollywood’s most wanted couple? “Dizzying,” she laughs. “The press can be ruthless. They keep trying to strip away your protective layers. They do things to … . annoy you, get you to expose something. It’s tiring, you know?”

What’s worse, Paltrow says she suddenly has more “friends” than she knows what to do with.

“There are people who suddenly want to get back in touch with you. That thrills me. It feels so inappropriate, and I think, ‘How stupid do you think I am?’ That upsets me, because it’s really an invasion. How dare you? You were mean to me all throughout high school, and now you’re trying to be my friend so you can come over and meet Brad Pitt.”

It’s only bound to get worse. Paltrow will be seen in three movies this summer, beginning with “The Pallbearer,” in which she plays David Schwimmer’s object of obsession.

Next she’ll appear opposite Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly in “Hard Eight,” a “dark drama about people living in Reno” which she describes as the best film she’s made to date.

Then Paltrow will take the plunge into a full-blown lead role - as the title character in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma.”

It’ll mark her debut as a film’s central star - something that gave Paltrow a little pause. “I could have waited another couple of years to do Emma,” she says. “I like doing supporting roles, and I had been really careful about taking the lead in a film. It’s a lot of responsibility, and it’s better to go slowly, do smaller parts, work with good people and learn. But it happened then, and it happened quickly, and it was such a wonderful role that I couldn’t let my fear get in the way.”

Despite all her success, it’s not her work that really drives Paltrow, she says.

“This isn’t that important to me,” she says earnestly. “Your personal relationships are what life is really about. I love my work, I love films. I’m a very fortunate girl; I realize that. But I’m not that ambitious. If I never worked again, I’d be totally fine.

“What’s really important to me is having a family, and I think it’s because I’m a product of a good family and I see all the positive sides of it. I’m sure I’ll still work. Just when the babies get to kindergarten. Or maybe I’ll go do a monthlong part, and the husband will be home with the kids.”

The husband? As in Mr. Pitt?

Contrary to tabloid reports, Paltrow says there has been no official engagement offer yet. But …

“We’ve kinda kicked the idea around,” she smiles. “We’ll see.”