Source: latimes.com
Author: Matt Donnelly

Gwyneth Paltrow has mastered the day job. The Oscar winner is capable in both the stilettos of “Iron Man’s” Pepper Potts and in the herb garden she’s displayed on her lifestyle blog Goop. So when given the chance to moonlight for a project like Stand Up to Cancer, the biennial televised fundraiser that utilizes an hour of commercial-free broadcasting across the big four networks and a slew of cable stations, she knew she couldn’t phone it in.

 

“When I do something, I want to actually do it, I want to commit and put my time in,” Paltrow told us of her role as executive producer for the Sept. 7 telecast. “I don’t want it to be a B.S. thing with my name on it.”

“I was really honored they asked me, and it’s been fun helping organize, asking people for favors and really getting involved.”

And it’s a pretty high profile list of favors. Stand Up to Cancer will recruit top stars, with names like Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Justin Timberlake, Julia Roberts, Samuel L. Jackson and Emma Stone taking part.

Their efforts will include manning a media bank with phones, live video chats and other social media platforms to benefit the organization’s mission of directly raising funds for cancer treatment.

“I feel a lot of empathy for these patients and families,” said Paltrow, who lost her father, Bruce, to oral cancer in 2002. “It’s wonderful to be involved in something that’s approaching research and doctors with a real proactivity, down to their distribution of funds.”

Paltrow is executive producing alongside Joel Gallen, whose resume boasts work like the 9/11 telethon “America: A Time for Heroes” and “Hope for Haiti: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief.”

First-hand accounts and a series of short, documentary-style films will showcase patient stories, along with live performances from Coldplay (naturally), Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift.

And you can expect some Paltrow DNA in there, like the star’s penchant for healthy living.

“There’s a bit of that, and it was really an important part of my involvement. Not just health and exercise — we have a segment where we have doctors speak about consciousness,” Paltrow said, “specialists that prove, and not in a kooky L.A. way of thinking, that there’s power behind positive thought.”

Paltrow even has influence on the micro level, ushering the Gwyneth Effect into her production office.

“Talking to Gwyneth and seeing what her routines are, she introduced me to her integrative medicine doctor, and I had a nice chat with him. I’m a believer in the Gwyneth factor,” Gallen said.

He’s also behind the message he and Paltrow have curated for this particular show, the third in Stand Up’s history: hope.

“We want to give people hope. Point is, the government does not fund the research enough. Without privately funded organizations like Stand Up to Cancer, we’re not going anywhere,” Gallen said.

Following the telecast, Paltrow is due to hit the Toronto Film Festival to promote her sex-addiction comedy “Thank You For Sharing,” then she’ll head home to London for what she called “back-to-school mode with the kids.”

“I’ve got three jobs, two kids and a touring husband,” she joked of her family and partner, Chris Martin of Coldplay.

Pepper Potts isn’t the only one with capable stilettos.

“Stand Up to Cancer” airs Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. Cable networks hosting the telecast include BIO, E!, Encore, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Logo, MLB Network,mun2, Palladia, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, Style, TBS and VH1.