Even though she's one great part of the insanely entertaining Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow hasn't been notable for her acting in years. Since marrying Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and raising their two kids, she's become more notable for stuff like traveling around Europe with Mario Batali, and founding the laughably snooty lifestyle site Goop.com, which encourages readers to "nourish the inner aspect."

But after a promisingly low-key turn in James Gray's Two Lovers earlier this year, Paltrow is taking on a role that's a genuine challenge: she'll play the wife to a character played by Nicole Kidman in The Danish Girl, a movie that sounds as weird and twisty as Iron Man is enjoyable and mainstream. The film, directed by Let the Right One In's Tomas Alfredson, tells the true story of Einar Wegener (Kidman), the world's first person to get a sex-change operation. According to Variety, Paltrow has signed on as Greta, the painter wife who stood by her husband as he transitioned into becoming a woman.

Charlize Theron had originally signed on to play Greta, and there's no mention of why the switch has been made. I'm more excited, though, to see what Paltrow can do with this kind of role, and especially how in the world Nicole Kidman will play a convincing man. It sounds too bizarre to work, but then so did a movie about a little boy falling in love with a castrated vampire. Alfredson has the ability to make this kind of weird magic happen.