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While reflecting on one of her earliest roles,Kate Winsletrecalled how exploring intimacy as a teenager helped her understand the complexities within a connection between two women.
During a recent appearance on theTeam Deakinspodcast, the Oscar winner revealed that her "first intimate experiences" as a teen were "with girls," which was surprisingly beneficial for appreciating the relationship at the core of Peter Jackson's 1994 drama-thrillerHeavenly Creatures, in which Winslet made her film debut.
Inspired by the notorious Parker-Hulme murder case, the film examines the dangerously obsessive friendship between two teenage girls — Winslet as Juliet Hulme and Melanie Lynskey, also in her film debut, as Pauline Parker — which culminates in the premeditated murder of Parker's mother.
When asked how much of herself she brought to the role of Juliet, Winslet told the podcast hosts: "I'll share something I've never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls. I'd kissed a few girls, and I'd kissed a few boys, but I wasn't particularly evolved in either direction."
She added: "At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood. I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in that obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them, and they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities."
Winslet later explained that although she "couldn't truly understand" the darker elements of the film, she connected with the deep personal connections someone can form when they are young and "vulnerable."
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It's a notably different experience from Winslet's most recent project,Goodbye June, in which she stars and makes her directorial debut.
With a screenplay written by her now 22-year-old son withSam Mendes, Joe Anders, the Netflix film centers on four siblings who rush to their mother's (Helen Mirren) side in the hospital to discover her cancer has returned. This time it's a terminal diagnosis, and she probably won't make it to Christmas, which is just two weeks away.
"The goal was to make a story that felt so real that people might hopefully be able to see something of themselves in these characters," Winslet previously toldEntertainment Weekly,"and to tell a story that is about loss, yes, but is actually much more about a family and much more about life and living and how precious it all is."
Kimberley French/Netflix
Although Winslet is a far cry from her teen self — having starred in other big projects such asSense and Sensibility,Titanic,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,The Reader, andLittle Children— there was still a learning curve to pulling double duty.
"It was definitely a juggle because when you say directing yourself, you're not really directing yourself at all," she told EW. "You're just thinking quickly, 'Okay, what other options can I try? How can I make sure I get into the edit and I've got lots and lots of things to choose from?' So for me, it was really about that and just being ready with my options, really super prepared."
She continued, "I learned the whole film like a play beforehand 'cause the one thing I knew I wasn't gonna literally have the time to do was actually sit down and be learning lines for those huge scenes. And then, quite honestly, I would rely on Joe... First-time director, seven weeks, and seven children; it was completely nuts. I didn't sit down the whole entire time; it was ridiculous. But I did absolutely love it."
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly