“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, my father’s going to have a heart attack,‘“

Gwyneth Paltrow explains why she refused to film explicit sex scene with Ethan Hawke

"I was like, 'Oh, my God, my father’s going to have a heart attack,'"

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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December 28, 2025 1:59 p.m. ET

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Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Great Expectations' (1997). Credit:

Phillip Caruso/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

Gwyneth Paltrow is no stranger to filming steamy sequences — but back in 1998, she had a pretty solid reason for shutting down an explicit sex scene with Ethan Hawke.

The duo, who starred together in Alfonso Cuarón's *Great Expectations*, recently reunited for a one-on-one with *Vanity Fair.* During their stroll down memory lane, Hawke recalled the sensual sex scene that Cuarón pitched to his two stars, only for Paltrow to decline.

"Do you remember Alfonso pitching you the love scene?" Hawke asked, to which Paltrow replied, "Oh, my God."

She then explained that the cut scene would have included her character, Estella, receiving oral sex from Hawke's Finnegan Bell. "I was like, 'Oh, my God, my father’s going to have a heart attack,'" she recalled.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke.

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage; Michael Loccisano/Getty

Hawke then launched into a reenactment of how he remembers Cuarón describing the scene in very explicit detail. "'The camera is going to go down your belly, and then it's going to go up your breasts, and then it's going to go in your face as you reach ecstasy,'" Hawke recited. "'And then when you reach ecstasy, the light will explode like to the sun!'"

As Paltrow laughed, covering her face, Hawke added, "I remember looking at Gwyneth, and Gwyneth is like, 'Alfonso...I'm never going to do that.'"

Paltrow then shared that she recalls exactly why she turned that scene down, explaining that it had more to do with her family's reaction than her own.

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"In my early career, I was really self-conscious about my dad and grandfather seeing this kind of stuff," she explained. "Like it really bothered me. Now, I wouldn’t care."

Hawke replied by praising Paltrow, who he's known for decades and briefly dated, for never being "petulant" when it came to such decisions.

"I think in regard to that scene, you had an awareness of the way that the business works, and the ways in which those kinds of images could be manipulated and what it meant to your dad," he pointed out. "And you were amazing, the way you handled that."

Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Great Expectations'.

Moviestore/Shutterstock

As Paltrow stated, steamy sequences are less concerning to her nowadays. Just this year, her role in *Marty Supreme* inspired much fanfare after photos emerged of her kissing costar Timothée Chalamet on the set of the ping-pong movie. Months after the paparazzi pics sent the internet into a tizzy, Paltrow didn't shy away from teasing that there are plenty more make-outs and sex scenes where that one came from.

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Elsewhere in their conversation for *VF*, Hawke pointed out that Paltrow's Central Park kiss with Chalamet is reminiscent of a moment from *Great Expectations*, which saw the two actors smooching in the park. Jokingly, Hawke told Paltrow that he had just "one selfish question" to ask her about the ping-pong movie.

"Did you kiss him in the same place you kissed me?" he asked, referencing the moment that sees their characters share a kiss at a Central Park water fountain.

"No," Paltrow said firmly. "Honey, never."

Skeptical, Hawke replied, "I think it's the same damn location."

"Never," Paltrow affirmed. "I never would have done that. I never would have desecrated our make-out spot like that."

Watch Paltrow and Hawke's full *Great Expectations* reunion above.**

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