Gwyneth Paltrow defends 'softie' Joaquin Phoenix

People News

Mar 15, 2009, 5:00 GMT

Gwyneth Paltrow thinks Joaquin Phoenix is a "real softie". The 36-year-old actress stars alongside the troubled actor - who has been acting increasingly erratic recently and is sporting a large unkempt beard - in upcoming film 'Two Lovers' and insists he isn't as eccentric as people think. © PRN / PR Photos

The 36-year-old actress stars alongside the troubled actor - who has been acting increasingly erratic recently and is sporting a large unkempt beard - in upcoming film 'Two Lovers' and insists he isn't as eccentric as people think. © PRN / PR PhotosThe 36-year-old actress stars alongside the troubled actor - who has been acting increasingly erratic recently and is sporting a large unkempt beard - in upcoming film 'Two Lovers' and insists he isn't as eccentric as people think.She said: "He has trouble relaxing. He's a very intense guy. Sometimes you don't want to disturb him because he's sitting there and there's a lot going on, but he's a real softie."He's a lovely, sensitive, kind person. It was interesting to watch him work. We work completely differently, totally opposite."In 'Two Lovers', Joaquin's character becomes obsessed with his neighbour, played by Gwyneth, who is in turn besotted with a married man.The blonde beauty - who has two children Apple, four, and Moses, two, with her Coldplay rocker husband Chris Martin - admits it was a difficult film to make.She said: "What appealed to me about the script was the rawness that was palpable even when you were reading it."The director James Gray said to me before we started, 'The only thing I will ask of you is that I don't want any walls between you and the character. I want you to completely, completely let me in.'"He created an environment where we could go for it and be as raw and f***ed up as we needed to be."