Gwyneth Paltrow's character in her new movie, Country Strong, forced her to get in touch with two lifestyles she had no experience with -- one, being a country singer, and two, a drug addict. Gwyneth got some singing tips from friends like Faith Hill and Beyonce, but for how to play a realistic addict, she turned to close friend Robert Downey, Jr., whose struggles with drugs have been made public over the years.

 

Gwyneth told us: "Before I started this movie I called him and had a really long conversation about addiction and what happens when you've completely blown it and how do you behave the next morning, and he was so helpful, and he wrote me this amazing email which I referred to the whole course of the shoot about how addiction behaves, and he really made it accessible to me, and he put it in terms where I felt like I could make it real instead of pretending to be. Also, I'm so connected to him and I love him so much, and it was hard for me to imagine him really going through that, and that was like an opening for me into the character. I relied on him a lot for that."

 

Country Strong opens in theaters nationwide on January 7th.

 

It also stars Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund.