Paltrow's “Country Strong” Mashup: Faith Hill, Beyonce and…Robert Downey, Jr.?

The recipe for concocting Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Country Strong” Nashville diva: One part Faith Hill, one part Beyonce, and a dash of…Robert Downey, Jr.?

While finding her way into the character of the booze-addicted, pill-popping country chanteuse on the verge of either a big comeback or a complete crash-and-burn, Paltrow relied on her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, to give her some input on the musical side, but the actress primarily plucked bits and pieces of inspiration from some of her famous friends.

“Of course my husband was very supportive, but I picked the brain more of Beyonce and Faith Hill, because they are women,” Paltrow tells PopcornBiz. “When I was doing all my research, I noticed that most of the great female stars of country music are very petite, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, they have such a low center of gravity and how am I going to do this – I’m so gangly and tall! But Faith is as tall as I am, and so I would study her a lot and then I asked her a million questions.  She was the most amazing, generous friend. And Beyonce, too, was just so good to me and very generous with her time and helping me through it.”

Because Paltrow’s on-screen husband is played by Hill’s real-life spouse Tim McGraw, she was able to bond closer with the country star in Nashville where the couple lives.

Paltrow studied Hill so closely, she even analyzed the unique way Hill holds her microphone while performing. “I almost copied that, but then I thought, ‘No, that’s too Faith, so I won’t do that.’”

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