Gwyneth Paltrow as Belle Burden? The Author Reveals Why She's the Ideal Choice for Netflix Film
A New York Times Modern Love essay turned memoir is now heading to Netflix-with Gwyneth Paltrow set to play Belle Burden. And as the project takes another surprising turn, Burden is opening up about the casting and why she says Paltrow is a perfect match.
Beyond the uncanny resemblance, Burden said the 53-year-old actress immediately connected with Strangers, which chronicles the sudden breakdown of her marriage during the early COVID-19 lockdown.
"We met in person, and we also met over Zoom, and I just think she's wonderful," Burden recently told E! News. "She really understood the book, she really connected with it emotionally, and I think she'll take great care of it."
She added, reflecting on how Paltrow has only just returned to acting. "I think it's so exciting that she's returning to acting," Burden said. "I thought she was amazing in Marty Supreme, so I'm really excited about her playing the part. It's a great honor, really. I can't quite believe that she is playing me."
Burden also reflected on how the journey from essay to film is truly a long, strange trip. "After it came out, two editors contacted me and said, ‘This should be a book,'" she recounted after her Modern Love essay was released, but a friend's reaction was, "‘Well, you're not going to do that. The Modern Love is enough, right? You're stopping now.'"
But she pushed back. "I was like, ‘No, actually, I'm going to write a book. I have so much more to say,'" Burden said. "And I realized in that moment that I really, really wanted to write a book-a full-length piece about this experience."
Burden also noted that while the raw wounds were still there, enough time had passed so she had a better perspective. "I think I started writing at exactly the right point, because I had some distance from it to have some perspective," she shared. "But I also was close enough that I could feel the emotions and remember the details and the sort of texture of that time."
She also shared how she was able to write about her family with abandon. "I think the hardest part of it really is to write without fear and not think so much about how individual people are going to receive it-especially people who are in the book-and worry about that later," she remarked. "So, I really tried to put fear aside, and it was emotional-the whole process was emotional-but I also enjoyed it."
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 8:42 AM.