Kate Winslet revealed the real reason behind her decision to finally sit in the director’s chair during her appearance at the world premiere of her latest film with Netflix, Goodbye June.
The 50-year-old Oscar-winning actress took the stage at the Curzon Mayfair in London and beamed at the audience as she stood next to her son Joe Anders, 21, who wrote the screenplay for the Christmas drama.
Speaking with the event’s host, DJ and radio presenter Edith Bowman, the mum-of-three explained why it took her so long to swap acting for directing and why she felt like now was the perfect time to try it out.
At the intimate screening that was attended by HELLO! and the cast of the film, Kate shared: “Joe had written a script on a screenwriting course that he was fortunate enough to be accepted onto, and at the end of the course, he said to me, ‘I’ve written this thing, and you know it’s probably [explicit], but would you read it?’
“And I read it, and I realised it was very much not [explicit] and could definitely be a film. Also, I found myself in a moment of realisation that, having spent so much of my life advocating and trying to elevate other women in male-dominated spaces, particularly in the film industry, I did have a moment of thinking, ‘Well, who am I really if I’m not actually doing that thing to try and change the culture?’ So in my 50s, I did it!”
She added: “It was so amazing, but there’s lots of people here from our crew who made it possible, and the contributions that they all made are just overwhelming. I mean, the film feels, I think, incredibly real, and so much of it is to do with a lot of the people and incredible actors.”
When asked how her relationship changed with her son, whom she shares with her ex-husband and film director Sam Mendes, she joked: “Well, we still love each other!”
Elsewhere, in the full cinema, her daughter and actress Mia Threapleton, 25, whom she shares with former husband Jim Threapleton, cheered and clapped for her mum and half-brother and was spotted patting Joe on the back as the siblings left the screening together and walked towards the centre of Mayfair.
© Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesWhat is Goodbye June about?
Tear-jerking and frighteningly real, the drama set at Christmas time in England follows a chaotic family of grown-up siblings as they care for their elderly mother, whose health has taken a turn for the worse over the festive period.
The idea for the film was inspired by the death of the actress’s mother, Sally Bridget-Winslet, and stars Kate, Dame Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Stephen Merchant and Toni Collette.
On the red carpet, Kate told PA Media that she wanted to create a film “that felt authentic and real”.
© Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesShe said: “I also didn’t want to make a story that was about someone who dies, because it’s really not, it’s actually about the life that is given to the people who are left behind and that family.
“And so it mattered to make it real, to keep it relatable for audiences, and to set it in our NHS space, which is massively undervalued, and we need to give credit and honour the people who do that incredible work, especially our palliative care workers.
“And so really highlighting that and seeing that mattered enormously to us as well.”
Goodbye June will be released in UK cinemas on December 12 and will later be available to stream on Netflix on Christmas Eve.
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