In 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow nabbed an Oscar for her role as William Shakespeare’s muse in the film Shakespeare in Love, and now, we’re learning that in a real-life twist, the film served as a muse for a major moment in Paltrow’s personal life. In a new interview with Variety, Paltrow revealed that Brad Falchuk wrote Shakespeare in Love-inspired wedding vows, promptly making us love this couple’s love even more than we ever thought we could before.
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Back in November, Paltrow and Falchuk said I do beneath an archway decorated with greenery surrounded by 75 of their closest friends and family. As Paltrow told Variety of her wedding day, it was at that moment that Falchuk made a heartwarming nod to Paltrow’s memorable Shakespeare role as Viola in his wedding vows.
“I hope this isn’t too personal, but in my husband’s wedding vows, he actually said it’s no coincidence that I played this muse, because that’s who I am to him, and his perception is that’s who I am in real life. It was really sweet,” Paltrow recalled to the outlet.
It would seem that Shakespeare in Love has played a bigger role in Paltrow’s life than she could have ever expected — and she almost didn’t appear in the film at all. Paltrow told Variety that she originally turned down the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love.
“The movie had many iterations. Julia Roberts was going to do it for a long time, and then that version fell apart. It ended up in Miramax and I was the first person they offered it to,” Paltrow revealed.
However, she had just split from Brad Pitt, whom she’d been engaged to.
“I was in the middle of a terrible breakup and the idea of going to England and being far from home just seemed… I didn’t even read it. I was just like, ‘I can’t read anything right now. I’m having a really hard time.'”
Accordingly, the film’s casting directors looked elsewhere, offering the part to Kate Winslet. It wasn’t until months after Paltrow originally turned down the role that it returned to her. Winslet had backed out, Paltrow was in a better emotional space and the script was hers for the taking.
“I just couldn’t put it down. It was perfect,” she gushed. “It just changed my life. I don’t think it ever went back to normal.” And, hey, who can argue with that? Not only did the film launch Paltrow into the stratosphere of Hollywood A-listers, but it also created a legacy so powerful and enduring that it popped up in her wedding vows 20 years later. Something else we can’t argue with? Falchuk clearly has impeccable taste — both in life partners and movies.
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