Kate Winslet has opened up about the painful experience of reliving her mother’s 2017 death while making her directorial debut Goodbye June, which stars Helen Mirren
Kate Winslet has opened up about the emotionally challenging experience of “reliving” her mother’s death whilst working on her latest film, Goodbye June.
The Titanic star has stepped behind the camera for her directorial debut with this feature-length drama, offering a poignant portrayal of a family coming together around their dying mother over the Christmas period. The script was penned by her son, Joe Anders.
Arriving on Netflix on 24th December, Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren takes on the role of matriarch June, whilst the ensemble cast features Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough and Timothy Spall.
Ahead of the film’s limited cinema release this Friday (12th December), Winslet discussed the loss of her own mother in 2017, admitting it “still feels like yesterday”.
During an appearance on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, the actress explained she’d initially hoped to “keep that private experience separate” from the project, before recognising this wouldn’t be feasible, reports the Express.
“It wasn’t necessarily cathartic, but there were days when I was literally reliving what happened when I lost my own mum, even though our film is fictional. And I would find myself strangely trying to almost hide in a funny way.”
Winslet told Cotton she frequently found herself “sitting quietly” behind Max, the production’s focus puller, during particularly intimate moments featuring Mirren and Spall.
“I would just sit with him quietly watching his monitor and sort of crying on his back,” she recalled. The star described the crew member as a “great spirit” to lean on during the more demanding moments of filming.
Winslet also expressed her hope that the film will ignite family discussions about the harsh realities of loss, reflecting on several enlightening conversations that took place among the cast and crew during production.
“Actually in this country, I don’t think we’re very good at talking about loss. I don’t think we’re very good at processing grief,” she elaborated.
“And in an interesting way it did bring up a lot of those conversations and people were quite grateful to be able to have them, not just the cast, but sometimes the crew as well.”
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Discussing her shift from actress to director, Winslet noted that she has observed her male peers make the same transition “without any judgment or scrutiny”, a luxury not often extended to women in the industry.
“It feels like for you personally, not only is this an amazing challenge for you to make that switch, but also you’re doing it on behalf of women to help this cultural shift in the very male-dominated Hollywood directing scene,” she stated.
Goodbye June is in limited UK cinemas from Friday, 12th December and on Netflix from 24th December.