Before Gwyneth Paltrow was an indie singer's wife who was famous for droning on and on about stuff and then deciding that she'd been misquoted about the thing she was droning on about and then droning on and on about that instead, she was an actress.

Lately it's all been a bit quiet on the acting front for Gwyneth Paltrow, as she seemed to be giving up making films for a life of complaining, living with Rupert from Coldplay and dreaming up ever more ridiculous names for her offspring. But now Gwyneth Paltrow is back and ready to star in a genuine blockbuster movie – Iron Man. In Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow has signed up to play Virginia 'Pepper' Potts – Iron Man's personal assistant. This has lead many to believe that Gwyneth Paltrow will be way out of her depth in Iron Man, since the role calls for neither listless complaining or a plummy la-di-da pretend British accent.

Over the last few years, Gwyneth Paltrow's personal life has hogged the limelight over her movie career. Sure, she's kept her nose in the acting game, chucking out confusing little highbrow films that have flopped (Proof, Infamous) or rubbish mainstream films that have flopped (View From The Top, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow) whenever she felt like it.

Instead, Gwyneth Paltrow has been too busy complaining about living in England or complaining about how stupid Americans are or worrying that her house has too many ghosts in it to think about making a film that anybody actually wants to go and see, but now that the ill-advised Gwyneth Paltrow hip-hop career has died a death, it looks like Gwyneth has no choice but to get back to work and remind people that she isn't a professional whinger. And she's jumping back into film-making in what'll be one of 2008's biggest films, Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr has already been cast as Iron Man, and Terrence Howard will be playing one of Iron Man's friends and now Gwyneth Paltrow has announced that she'll be filling the role of Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, Iron Man's headstrong PA. The Hollywood Reporter quotes Marvel boss Kevin Feige as saying:

"We've been casting for a long time, and we really took our time in finding the perfect person. We've talked to our prototype for Pepper, and we kept mentioning 'someone like Gwyneth Paltrow,' and it was relatively recently that it came to our attention that maybe we should go to Gwyneth. Her representatives let us know that she wanted to do a movie like this; a few phone calls later from all parties involved, and over the weekend it happened."

The experience looks like it's a win-win for everybody. Iron Man gets to say it has an Oscar-winning actress playing a vaguely low-key role, the moviegoing public gets to remember that Gwyneth Paltrow makes films sometimes and Gwyneth herself could pick up some ideas on things to call her next baby – if she decides to have one – on the film set. Iron, she could call it. Or Man. Anything's better than naming a child Moses, let's be honest.

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Paltrow Is Iron Clad For Marvel – Hollywood Reporter