Actress Ruth Jones is speaking out about her allegedly not-so-nice experience working with Gwyneth Paltrow on the set of the 1996 movie Emma.
“It was the first film I’d done … and I had two lines. It was something like, I had to open the door, I had to announce Gwyneth Paltrow and say, ‘Miss Woodhouse is here.’ And then, I had to say, ‘Goodbye, Miss Woodhouse,’ at the exit and let her out,” Jones shared on the Wednesday, June 12, episode of the “Brydon &” podcast. “And Gwyneth Paltrow cut one of my lines. She said, ‘Does she really need to say that? I mean, can I just come in?’”
While the moment was “heartbreaking” for Jones, she noted that actress Sophie Thompson (who played Miss Bates) acted “lovely” towards her during filming. “But with Gwyneth, no, she wanted to cut my lines,” Jones claimed.
Jones appeared as Bates’ maid in the movie, which starred Paltrow, 51, as the movie’s titular heroine. Based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name, the film follows Emma as her love life becomes tangled in her attempts to play matchmaker for others. The period romance also starred Jeremy Northam as George Knightley, Toni Collette as Harriet Smith, Ewan McGregor as Frank Churchill and Alan Cumming as Mr. Elton.
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Jones went on to recall attempting to make conversation with Paltrow while waiting to begin shooting part of their scene. “At the time, she was going out with Brad Pitt. And I said, ‘So, do you have any Welsh connections,’ ’cause obviously, Gwyneth, I always think of as a Welsh name. ‘So, where did the name come from? How come you’re called Gwyneth?’” Jones shared. “And she said, ‘Oh, my mother had a friend called Gwyneth and she really liked the name, so she called me Gwyneth.’”
Jones continued: “And she was quite dismissive of me, so in my head, I was thinking, ‘Yeah, well it’s an old woman’s name where I come from, love. And when you marry Brad Pitt, you’re gonna be Gwyn Pitt!’”
Having since appeared in several TV shows and movies, Jones said she would “never” act the way Paltrow did in front of another actor, especially if a person’s part is being altered. “You have to do things that are right for the show,” she explained. “You’re not doing it just to be mean. It is a bit of a tricky one.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Paltrow’s reps for comment.
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Since her small role in Emma, Jones has gone on to star in a number of British TV shows and movies, such as Fat Friends, Little Britain, Stella and Gavin & Stacey, the latter of which she cocreated with James Corden.
Paltrow, for her part, went on to win Best Actress at the 1999 Oscars for her role in Shakespeare in Love before going on to appear in The Royal Tenenbaums, Sylvia, Country Strong, The Politician and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She also founded her wellness and lifestyle brand, Goop, in 2008, and took a step back from acting in 2020 to focus on her company.
