Magical Winslet
Kate Winslet is a tour de force in an industry that craves female leaders
A Staff Writer speaks with the actress who stole our hearts in Titanic
Once upon a time in Hollywood, there were two unspoken rules: first, glamorous film stars generally played the roles of glamorous women; and second, a jump to television often meant your career was in decline!
Thankfully, like most things in Tinseltown, neither of these caveats remain true.
Take Kate Winslet in HBO’s Mare of Easttown, for example. Mare Sheehan is a detective sergeant and lifelong resident of Easttown. She’s tasked with investigating a local murder while also dealing with personal and professional challenges.
The show was lauded for its gritty realism, which was encapsulated by Winslet’s Mare – a downtrodden and frumpy woman who is a far cry from the actress’s usual splendour.
She explains: “It’s always been good to step outside of who I really am. Some actors like the security of a certain type of characterisation but for me, that feels boring. My contentment comes from taking risks; and of course, some work and some don’t!”
Most have worked, thankfully – so much so that rather than push her daughter Mia away from the emotional perils of the entertainment industry as so many parents do, she has encouraged her to carve out a niche for herself.
And in 2022, the Brit beauty starred in I Am Ruth, a deeply moving film that explores the ruptured relationship between Ruth (Winslet) and her teenage daughter Freya (Mia Threapleton).
Winslet reveals: “I’ve always kept my children away from the media and that part of the industry. And in the case of Mia, not only has this protected her but I think it also kept the idea of acting and performing pure and wholesome.”
Indeed, with her look-alike daughter embarking on her own acting career, 48-year-old Winslet could consider early retirement but has instead delivered one of her finest performances yet in the six part satire The Regime.
Created by Succession alum (and The Menu co-writer) Will Tracy, The Regime features the Oscar winning actress as the manicured and manic dictator of an imagined central European state.
Primarily filmed at the picturesque Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna with additional scenes shot in the baroque rooms of Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham, The Regime is a fever dream that simultaneously terrifies, baffles and entertains viewers.
She notes: “You’ve got to keep pushing in this industry. As they say, standing still is going backwards!”
Kate lives with her husband Edward Abel Smith in the rural confines of southern England, having made a conscious decision to turn away from red carpets and flashbulbs: “Of course, I will do what I can when promoting projects but outside of that, I’ve never been too fussed about the scene. I’ve never missed it and I don’t think it’s ever missed me!”
And it is that level of humility and likeability that has kept the actress always in the minds and lenses of fans and directors alike.
“I’ve never been the type of person who has gone about my work with any level of arrogance; and I think that’s because I never believed I’d make it in the first place,” she says.
And she adds: “Even when I started getting acting roles, all I ever thought was: ‘Okay, what else can I learn that could make me money because acting probably won’t’.”
Winslet continues: “The truth is I didn’t know how to do anything else when I was 16. I did okay at school; but I certainly couldn’t say there was one particular thing that I studied with a view to becoming something in that world. I could act – and I loved it. I really loved it. So in terms of what I imagined, I guess I perceived life on the breadline, trotting around London, hopefully going for lots of auditions.”
After the early breakout success in Peter Jackson’s psychological drama Heavenly Creatures – inspired by the 1954 Christchurch Parker-Hulme murder case – and the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Winslet progressed to period dramas such as Jude and Hamlet.
Of course, it was Titanic that launched Winslet into the stratosphere, followed by a slew of other box office hits.
And while the reporting of extensive squabbles with director James Cameron have always been a part of Winslet’s post-Titanic life, they were fundamentally put away in 2022 when the pair reunited for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’
She explains: “I think after a while, you realise that the intention is always art and nothing else. There is a drive to be the best and to produce the best thing you can; and at times, that means not taking any prisoners along the way.”
Winslet continues: “What’s more, I know I’m a different person now and Jim certainly is. Time is a great healer of division but it also has the ability to bring about empathy and respect.”
