Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Douglas
The fact that the two people who have a romantic interest in each other in A Perfect Murder are of different ages from each other is not a coincidence. Emily, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is depicted in the script as being married to Steven, a more experienced Wall Street businessman.
Steven is portrayed as being older than Emily (Michael Douglas). In the year 1998, Michael Douglas was 54 years old, making him more than twice as old as Gwyneth Paltrow, who was only 26 years old at the time. Gwyneth Paltrow was only 26 years old at the time of release.