Gwyneth Paltrow would like to model her movie career on Leonardo DiCaprio

Gwyneth Paltrow wants to model the second phase of her movie career on Leonardo DiCaprio.

The 52-year-old Oscar winner stepped away from Hollywood after becoming a mother to focus on building her Goop wellness brand, but she has now returned to acting with a role in new sports drama Marty Supreme and she is now hoping to take inspiration from DiCaprio by being more "discerning" when choosing film projects.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I look at Leo’s career, and we started at the same time - Flesh and Bone, which was my breakthrough, came out when [DiCaprio’s film What’s Eating] Gilbert Grape came out.

"That’s when I met him, and I think Leo has done such a beautiful job of managing his career. It’s been all about what he’s said yes and no to, and nobody explained that to me when I was in my 20s.

"So if I’m going to do it again, I’m going to take a page out of Leo’s book and be more discerning."

Gwyneth - who is mother to Apple, 21, and Moses, 19, with her ex Chris Martin - also compared her early movie career to being "dropped on top of a train" - admitting she took on too much work and eventually "burnt" out.

She explained: "I started doing this when I was 18, and it’s like I got dropped on top of a train, and the train just went. It was almost like how a young woman is trained to date.

"Like: 'Do they want me?' No, no, do you want them? I never even stopped to say, like: 'Is this a good project? Is this a good director?'

"And maybe you shouldn’t - you’re a kid and you’re doing a bunch of stuff and lots of things are exciting.

"But also there’s this insecure part of you that thinks you just have to keep doing it. I felt that I just had to keep saying yes to everything, and then I totally burnt myself out, such that when I had my daughter, I was like: 'I quit. I’m never doing this again'."

When asked what she has planned for her future movie projects, Gwyneth admitted she hasn't signed up for anything else just yet.

She said: "I’ve not said yes to anything yet. I thought about a couple of things, but timing-wise, I have a lot to manage with my company.

"I also don’t need to rush. I think if I was going to step back into this, I would do it differently than I did it last time."