EXCLUSIVE: Kate Winslet says working with her crush has somewhat tainted her teen fantasy

Kate Winslet is truly passionate about acting. Photo: Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times/Contour by Getty Images.

“I have been in love with Guy since I was 11. He was not one of my first crushes, he was the only crush I ever had, ” confesses Kate Winslet about actor Guy Pearce, during a video interview with StarLifestyle and international press.

Winslet and Pearce are co-stars in the upcoming HBO limited series Mare Of Easttown. They previously worked together in the miniseries, Mildred Pierce.

“When I first met Guy in 2010, when we did Mildred Pierce together, I walked into the rehearsal room on the first day, I dropped all my bags, and I said, ‘Before you say anything, I have to come clean.’

“I said to him, ‘I’ve been in love with you since I was 11. And I know that we share the same birthday. We’re both Libra. I’ve known that since I was 11 as well.’ And then, of course, we became great friends.”

The 45-year-old actress goes on to reveal how she got more than she bargained for with her teen crush when Pearce was cast for Mare Of Easttown – their characters have a romantic encounter in the show.

Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce star in 'Mare Of Easttown'. Photo: HBO Asia

And since their intimate scene was shot a little after the lockdown was lifted late last year, Winslet chose to quarantine with Pearce for about 10 days in New York, United States.

Then, once at location in Pennsylvania, she opted to live with Pearce and another cast member at the same house throughout the shoot as well.

Laughing at the memory, Winslet shares how living with Pearce had somewhat tainted her teenage fantasies, as everyday life set in... such as going through the trash with Pearce as the latter is a stickler about recycling properly and Winslet had thrown a sardine can without cleaning it first.

“And I’m like, ‘100% not in the fantasy, doll. You’re ruining everything.’ It was very funny.”

Winslet’s down-to-earth personality during this interview is somewhat of a surprise.

After all, the British performer is best known for her roles in heavy dramas like Sense And Sensibility, Iris, Little Children, Steve Jobs and The Reader, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar.

In a separate interview, 53-year-old Pearce attests that Winslet is indeed a “very down-to-earth, practical lady”.

He adds: “I find that a very sexy quality in a lady. And she’s a funny, funny woman.”

She’s chatty too, it turns out.

At one point during the 25-minute interview, she interrupts herself by saying: “I’m sure everyone has got questions; I should probably stop talking because I know, I just talk and talk. I love talking about Mare. I’m like talking about her for the first time today and it’s so exciting.”

Winslet is referring to the title character of the crime thriller Mare Of Easttown, of which Winslet is the main star and the producer.

Meet Mare Sheehan, a detective in a small Pennsylvania town who’s investigating a local murder. While she’s dedicated to her job – often patrolling on her own accord – her personal life is in total shambles.

It gets worse as things at work and home turn complicated.

Within the seven episodes of the series, Winslet plays the multi-layered Mare to perfection. Or as one reviewer wrote, Winslet’s “fierce, ordinary heroine is gloriously real”.

“It was very important to me that we made Mare look real, ” confirms Winslet.

“I didn’t want her to look like the television version of a detective... there is no makeup on my face, and we barely put a brush through my hair.

“Mare doesn’t care what she looks like, you know. She never drinks water, she pretty much only drinks beer or coffee, mostly beer. I like that in a woman, may I just say, ” Winslet mentions, smiling.

“I did love playing her. It was very, very hard, though. Because of all the trauma I had to create, and the grief that I had to manifest and carry, that I had to keep sort of simmering away, which weirdly, I’ve had a strange time letting go of.”

The actress worked closely with detectives to bring Mare to life as real as possible. Photo: HBO Asia

Since this is the first time Winslet is portraying a police detective, the actress started preparing for the part, months before filming began.

“I didn’t know anything about police work. I don’t know anything about forensics... how to solve a crime. But I have always been very intrigued by that world, ” says Winslet.

To learn the trade, Winslet spent time at the actual police department of Easttown (yes, it’s a real town) as well as Marple Township police department in Pennsylvania.

Winslet elaborates: “We had an incredible group of detectives who were helping the show, but there was one woman who’s a sergeant detective with a story a little bit similar to Mare’s... she was my sort of go-to woman.

“She took me gun training and showed me how to use handcuffs... I spent a lot of time with her.”

Winslet is obviously passionate about acting, which has led her to receive seven Oscar nominations in a film career that spans almost three decades now.

Starting with 1994’s Heavenly Creatures directed by Peter Jackson, securing the role that garnered her global fame in James Cameron’s Titanic (1997), at age of 22, to her most recent gig in critically-acclaimed Ammonite, opposite Saoirse Ronan.

In between there were also Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The Holiday, Contagion and Divergent.

Next up is Cameron’s Avatar sequel, where she plays the female leader of a water tribe named Ronal.

For this role, Winslet trained for a month how to free dive and hold her breath for a really long time.

It was reported last year that Winslet held her breath for seven minutes and 14 seconds, breaking the record held by Tom Cruise for the longest underwater breath-hold in a film. She beat him by over a minute.

She was only 22 when the film 'Titanic' came out and gained global stardom. Photo: Filepic

But prior to her breakout turn in Heavenly Creatures, she started out in British TV shows, Dark Season (1991) and Get Back (1992).

It would be 19 years before she returned to this medium – the 2011 miniseries Mildred Pierce, which went on to win all kinds of awards including a Golden Globe for Winslet and five Emmys including Winslet’s win for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Movie.

Mare Of Easttown comes exactly 10 years after Mildred Pierce. Does this mean audiences have to wait another 10 years before Winslet makes another TV show?

Photo: Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times/Contour by Getty Images

“I hope not. I really hope not, ” she says, laughing.

“I love doing television. And, in many ways, I almost prefer it to film because quite selfishly, you get more time to tell your story.”

Comparing a film that ends within two hours to a TV series like Mare Of Easttown that has a total of seven episodes – or seven hours of running time – Winslet says television gives her a chance to explore more of the character and the story as well.

“A film is... you know, it’s completely different. You’re often having to focus on the things that the audience can see, as well as playing the parts that they never get to see.

“Whereas, with television, you sort of just get to play all of it, which is wonderful, you know.

“Being able to tell a story to that extent, especially with something like Mare where there was such an enormous support cast, you know, really incredible actors.

“I love spending time with lots of actors like that, especially when there are a lot of young actors like we had on Mare, ” says Winslet who is a mother of three.

Director Todd Haynes (left) and Kate Winslet on the set of HBO's miniseries, 'Mildred Pierce'. Photo: HBO Asia

Her oldest, Mia Threapleton, 20 – with first ex-husband Jim Threapleton – made her acting debut last year in the film Shadows.

Winslet is also mum to 17-year-old Joe Mendes (with second ex-husband Sam Mendes), and seven-year-old Bear Blaze with current husband Edward Abel Smith.

Having that innate maternal instinct, it’s little wonder that even on the set of Mare Of Easttown, Winslet kind of took charge and not only in the producer capacity.

Pearce spills what it was like when he was housed with Winslet: “She’s great in the kitchen. She, you know, just dominates and tells everyone what to do and you just do it.

"You’re not going to say ‘No, I’m not going to bake that cake for you’.

“She tells you to mix things, chop things and stir things, and put that in the oven, put this in the fridge, and you just do it, you know, ” he says with smile.

“She’s great fun. I enjoyed every second with her.”

The seven-part limited series Mare Of Easttown premieres on April 19 at 10am on HBO (Astro Ch 411) and HBO Go. Repeats at 11pm.