Kate Winslet “Holidays” in America
December 8, 2006
She’ll be forever emblazoned in our memories as Rose, the feisty, red-haired love of Leo DiCaprio, struggling to survive the sinking of Titanic. But, of course, talented actress Kate Winslet also wowed in Sense and Sensibility, Iris, Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey. Turns out, Kate is very down-to-earth and very funny! She gets to display that side of her acting arsenal in the upcoming romantic comedy The Holiday in which she portrays a modern, heartbroken English lass switching homes for the holidays with California girl Cameron Diaz.
Blonde Kate is one beautiful girl. Her flawless English rose complexion and those big, expressive eyes just grab you when you meet her in person. We met with the actress, who looked sleek in all black low-cut tee, jacket, jeans and high boots, at a hotel in Beverly Hills recently to sit down and shoot the breeze about shooting The Holiday, her joy at playing a modern Englishwoman without corsets and period costumes, being a mom, her Oscar hopes, working with Jack Black as her leading man and what she’d like to give and get this holiday season.
TeenHollywood: Coming from a family of actors, was there ever a second thought that you would join the family business and did your parents expect it? What inspired you?
Kate: I promise you it was just a kind of in the blood thing. There was absolutely in my mind never any question that that was what I wanted to be. But I never thought I was going to be in films. That’s not what acting was about in my family. The acting was about struggle and doing theatre. And even getting an episode of a TV series that was a big job, that was something that we would all celebrate. So, the fact that I have ended up being in movies is something that I’m constantly amazed by and find myself questioning ‘how did that happen?’ Because it wasn’t something that I really knew anything about when I was a child. My parents were very encouraging in the right ways. They didn’t say to me, ‘you’re so wonderful darling you’re going to be a huge star. No they absolutely didn’t. They said, ‘okay well work hard and do your best because your best is good enough’. That’s what I say to my daughter and my son because I think it’s tremendously important to instil that kind of confidence in a child. And my daughter will repeat it back to me, she says, ‘I’m doing my best because my best is good enough’.
TeenHollywood: That’s a great attitude. How surprised are you that your career, which began that way, has ended up so successfully?
Kate: I’m very surprised. And very, very grateful, really appreciative that I get to do the thing I love to do and play so many different parts. Certainly since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind it kind of really opened up a whole other doorway of opportunity. And I still feel that I’m experiencing the benefits of that film in particular because I think people saw me in a more contemporary light to put it completely plainly.
TeenHollywood: Do you relate to your character Iris in The Holiday? She has a pretty tough time with a break-up.
Kate: I think I relate to all the characters, both men and the women to be honest with you because you know the subject of love, it’s absolutely endless and it can be the most glorious thing in the world but it can also be the most shattering thing when you’re in a situation like the one Iris is in when you love someone who doesn’t love you back. In a way I sort of relate to all of them, I mean that’s what [writer/director] Nancy Myers does brilliantly. She constructs these stories that have characters in them that we feel as though we know; as though we’ve either been that person or we’re friends with that person.
TeenHollywood: Does doing a movie like this bring out your romantic side?
Kate: I suppose it does. I mean on watching it, it does. The experience of making it is very difficult to get any kind of overview on what the film is actually going to be like. It was wonderful working with Jack [Black]. These little sort of romantic moments between us were incredibly sweet and enjoyable and also nice for me as well. I’d never made a film like this before and I really embraced it and really enjoyed every moment of playing this sweet lovely charming grounded honest woman. It was such a pleasure.
TeenHollywood: Did you have any notions about Jack Black when you heard he was going to be your leading man? This movie is kind of a departure for him. Did he surprise you at all?
Kate: When I read the script I could not think of anyone who would play Miles better than Jack and we were so lucky that he wanted to come and do it. And I was really excited to work with him. I’m a huge Jack Black fan. He’s a brilliant actor, he’s an incredible comedian but there’s something very humble about him too. He’s not like a show off, he’s not like an exhibitionist and also I felt you could tell that he was very hard working. The only thing I was genuinely surprised by is that I think I thought Jack was going to operate much more like a comic or a comedian but he doesn’t, he operates like an actor and he reminded me so much of many actors that I’ve worked with.
TeenHollywood: So he was really nice to you?
Kate: He’s very sweet, very supportive, as I said really hard working but he has this sensitive side to him. He’s very thoughtful and really kind. And I was just delighted to experience those things and also thrilled to see him use them in playing this part because I do feel as though we haven’t seen Jack do something like this and I think he does it brilliantly. He doesn’t fall false sentiment. It’s a very genuine performance I think. And of course he colors it with all his ‘Jack Blackness’ which you know I think we’re all very grateful for.
TeenHollywood: Oddly Rufus Sewell, whom you dated, played your ex-boyfriend in this. Was that all okay?
Kate: It was completely fine. I mean I hadn’t seen him for a very, very long time but you know we’d remained friends, it was really not a big deal. It was purely coincidence. But I was thrilled by the suggestion because he’s a wonderful actor and I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect for Jasper (humm, this could mean several things. Jasper is a jerk in the film.)
TeenHollywood: You have an adorable happy dance when you arrive in L.A. to see Cameron’s great house in Brentwood. Was that totally improvised?
Kate: It was improvised in the sense that Nancy had scripted the rooms that she wanted Iris to visit on that sort of little joy dance. But everything that I did yeah it was pretty much improvised.
TeenHollywood: Have you personally done a happy dance like that before?
Oh yeah. You get a piece of good news and you do something like that. I still get really thrilled by the whole hotel experience just because the majority of the time if we travel anywhere with the children we’ll tend to try and actually find a home to live in. So the experience of staying in a hotel doesn’t happen all that often and I still get really kind of like ‘oh look, oh god the pillows are so fluffy and the cute little things in the bathroom and wow look at the lovely room service’. I mean I still do really get delighted by those things and thank god I do because I would never want to take that stuff for granted.
TeenHollywood: There is a scene in which you and Jack visit a video store and he picks up various movie DVDs. Did you look for some of your own films there? It would have been funny if he’d picked up Titanic.
Kate: I remember in the middle of shooting that scene thinking, ‘We’re in a video store. I wonder of any of the films that I’m in are on the shelves?’ And they had been deliberately removed, both mine and Jack’s because Nancy [director/writer] didn’t want them to be distracting for us. Which actually I was so grateful for because I would have been distracted. I don’t really have all my movies proudly displayed on a shelf or anything like that so it would have been pretty weird just because I don’t look at the covers that often. So no I was very pleased that they weren’t there.
TeenHollywood: Would you call this a chick flick or something for everyone?
I don’t feel like this is a chick flick. It’s about two separate relationships that happen with women and men. And actually there are more men in the film than there are women. I’ve never done a romantic comedy or something that is labelled as that before. And I was so excited to do something new and also nervous you know. The worry of ‘can I be funny?’ it’s a terrible thing to be concerned about. And Jude [Law] and I would speak on the telephone a lot before we started shooting, ‘oh my god they’re going to fire us, they’re going to recast, what if we don’t make them laugh’, you know very nervous about the whole thing. But also I haven’t played a contemporary English woman in a film either before. I’ve done it in American but this was new to me. And actually I did not like the feeling initially. I thought, ‘well what do you mean I can’t hide behind something, what do you mean I don’t have a wig or an accent you know or a strange costume?’ It was me and my hair and my voice and clothes that I would choose to wear and there was something oddly intimidating about that and it took a little bit of getting used to.
TeenHollywood: You mean playing a woman more like yourself was harder than say playing a period character like Rose?
Kate: Oh it was definitely harder than I thought. I mean making films is such a joy but it’s always tough. I certainly didn’t go into it thinking, ‘oh this is going to be so much easier because I haven’t got an accent or its comedy’. It had its own specific set of challenges but at the same time it definitely took me awhile to get over my own fear. And there’s always that level of fear around any character. But I suppose I was surprised about how nervous I was playing an English woman.
TeenHollywood: If it made you that nervous, would you do it again in another film?
Kate: I loved it, I would absolutely love to. I mean it’s a very different way of working and yet it’s just as much hard work. I really had a great time and it was so nice to walk away from the experience of shooting this film with a real spring in my step and not feeling as though I was kind of bleeding out of every pore in my body and I’d been put through the kind of emotional roller coaster ride of playing somebody like Sarah [her character in the more sadly emotional Little Children]. You know I didn’t feel I had to patch myself back together quite as much as you sometimes do. So it was a truly wonderful experience.
TeenHollywood: Your character Iris just has to get away. You seem to have a very good life in England, what would make you feel like you need to just get away?
Kate: I’ve got my kids and my husband [film director Sam Mendes] and there’s absolutely no reason why I would ever want to get away from them. So it would have to take a lot I think to make me feel like I wanted to run away and hide somewhere.
TeenHollywood: This Christmas, what gift are you hoping someone will give you?
Kate: I know what I want for Christmas and I’ve told my husband. I want the full range of Jamie Oliver kitchenwear. It’s new and I’ve just never had a full set of anything before. Never a whole dinner service and I just really would love to have it because it looks so brilliant and so practical and the kind of thing you would always have. I’m so weird, aren’t I?
TeenHollywood: Nope, that’s not weird. What are you going to serve on it?
Kate: I don’t know, everything, food, food, lots of food.
TeenHollywood: How is this stage of motherhood for you? Are you having trouble letting go of your kids a bit?
Kate: It’s wonderful, I love every second of it, it’s absolutely wonderful. I don’t let go. I’m not letting go, there’s no need to let go, they’re still very young. No, no letting go going on in my house.
TeenHollywood: There is Oscar buzz around you for your difficult role in Little Children. You’ve gotten four nominations and yet to win. Does that make you want to get the award more?
Kate: Listen it’s good but it isn’t something that I feel like I’m aiming for. It isn’t a goal of mine, I just feel so incredibly lucky that I’ve had that acknowledgement and that experience. You know that, if you’re really, really lucky, you get that pat on the back. And I’ve had that pat on the back and it’s incredible and it feels amazing. But the truth is, every time I have been nominated and I’ve attended the Academy Awards I have instinctively known that I wasn’t going to win. Absolutely. And so it’s been nice because I’ve just been able to go along and really just enjoy the whole experience. But, of course it would mean everything to me if it went all the way.
TeenHollywood: What’s next for you, Kate?
Kate: I am currently in the middle of a year off although I’ve had so many films come out that I don’t feel like I’ve had any time off yet.
We encourage her to rest and enjoy the holidays cooking up a storm on her new cookware from hubby!
Source: TeenHollywood.com
Posed in: News > Movies > Interviews > The Holiday
