Kate Winslet covers the November issue of Esquire UK to promote her myriad fall movies, including The Dressmaker and Steve Jobs. I’ve been enjoying Winslet’s promotional work because she’s sort of deliciously annoying. What I mean by that is that I’ve found her profoundly annoying for several years now and suddenly, everyone else is catching up. Thankfully, this Esquire piece isn’t as bad as her Edit cover story, although she once again humble-brags about her lack of ego in daring to wear a brown wig to get the part in Steve Jobs. The Esquire piece is mostly written as a series of quotes from Winslet and you sort of have to guess about what she’s discussing. Some highlights:
On her name: “I have no idea what Winslet means, but I have a huge attachment to my name. I feel like I come from a long line of survivors and carthorses. I love being a Winslet, I really do.
No teenage drama: “I skipped the teenage thing of being a bit outrageous and naughty, getting drunk and falling asleep in the middle of the road. I was working. I didn’t sneakily sniff glue or take drugs. I wasn’t found shagging behind the bike sheds.”
On Titanic: “I don’t want to have to say Titanic was the film that had the biggest impact on the direction of my career, but I suppose I do. What it really afforded me was career choice. The story about me sending a single rose to James Cameron is not entirely true. I did send him a bunch of flowers saying, “Amazing to meet you, thanks for the opportunity”, or something like that. But I don’t think I said, “‘I am your Rose.’” I wouldn’t have been quite so disgusting.
She’s still close to Leonardo DiCaprio: “Leo is my closest actor friend. We don’t necessarily talk all the time or anything, but really, he is.”
She’s always late: “The only thing I’m on time for is work. When I’m late, I’m horrifically late. Ned is the absolute opposite. He’s always bang on time. He’s just had to learn how to deal with my lateness.”
She’s not materialistic: “I hate talking about money. It has been a really great thing for every member of my family that this has happened to me, so in that regard it has been important, but I’m not a materialistic person. If I didn’t have it, I’d absolutely know how to live, because that’s how I learned.”
Complaining about the hours for ‘Steve Jobs’: “On Steve Jobs, we worked some ridiculous hours. We filmed in the opera house in the centre of San Francisco, which is a functioning opera house, so we’d start at midnight and film until midday. That’s pretty gross. I remember saying out loud, “God, I’m so knackered.” And the props woman, who I knew from a couple of other jobs, said, “Honey, we’re here for a lot longer than you are. Shut the f–k up.” And I went, “Oh my God, you’re so right.”
Winning the Oscar: “You get yourself so good at losing. I really hoped that I might win the Oscar that year [2009], and I bloody did. I remember absolutely all of it. I should, of course, say the birth of my children, so let’s just say that I’ve said that, but it was the most glorious, fist-pumping, high-five, triumphant, all-consuming moment of my entire life. It was f–king amazing. It’s the biggest prize going, I won it, and it felt incredible. I’m not going to down-play it one bit.”
She used to smoke to be cool: “I don’t smoke any more. That was my “cool” thing that stopped people from thinking I was a stiff-upper-lipped Brit. I was the bad girl who busted out the rollies, you know? It was great in a read-through: you’d start day one of rehearsals, a room full of terrified actors, and I’d pull out the rollies and everybody would visibly sink in their seats and go, “Oh, thank God she’s normal.”
I genuinely enjoy the fact that she still considers Leo a friend – he’s said similar things too, that they really bonded and became friends for life filming Titanic. I also don’t fault her for still relishing her Oscar win (even if I think she won for the wrong movie) because I get tired of actors pretending that they don’t care about that stuff. It’s nice for her to say it really was a big deal. But Kate complaining about how tired she is and being told off by a crew member? Classic. And I feel like that probably speaks to who she really is too.
Photos courtesy of Esquire UK.
That props woman should have her own talk show. Sounds like she would deflate the egos of some of the over the top actors out there
At the same time it says that Kate Winslet isn’t above being set straight by a member of the crew. Sme actors would have had her fired.
I agree. I think the story makes her
look better.
Which is exactly why she’s telling it, Nancy.
Her stories are created by her publicist. She’s told the same ones, word for word, as other big names with down home images.
I don’t know why “I am more miserable than you” somehow invalidates the misery of the original. I don’t think it does.
It is the same as” children are starving in Africa so eat your peas”.
I think working at night is extremely hard. I can’t do it. I simply shutdown at about 5 AM and I don’t care about anything or the consequences.
She just wanted some companionship and compassion, instead she got told off.
it sounds like they’re friendly, Kate and the crewman…I don’t think Kate would have brought it up if the woman was telling her off.
@EN good point. Also, while she’s stuck sitting around a lot, waiting, versus crew workers are constantly on the go….KW also has to remember her lines, use appropriate emotion, sound awake, and hopefully look decent – all hard to do after any long shift, let alone an overnighter that mixes us up.
I know, I LOVE THIS WOMAN AND I DONT EVEN KNOW HER! Haha.
I don’t know, I liked that she said that a crew member shut her down.
I used to always be late when I handed in admin papers (I’m a teacher) and one day one of the admin people just flat out said to me when I handed in the latest batch with some chocolate to apologize: “We don’t want chocolate. We just want you to not hand in your stuff late, because you’re showing that you think our time is valuable than ours. So just grow up.”
Never handed them in late again…Sometimes you need people to shut you up.
I used to be late all the time, too. In my early twenties, I was going out with a guy I really liked and I was an hour late, and he told me the same thing, and said if I ever did that to him again, he just couldn’t be with me because of what it said about me and how much I valued him and his time. I am grateful to him. I’ve never been late again to anything, barring unpreventable events. And I can’t stand people who are always late. Grow up. It’s rude.
Oh I can’t stand people who are constantly late and that is exactly the reason why! Once in a while because something unexpected happens is fine, it happens to everyone. But not consistently late. Then it’s a value thing. I’m glad you ladies are punctual now. 🙂
This reminds me of my BIL. It’s so bad we’ve tod him the time an hour earlier than it was. And when he runs on his own schedule we call it “(his name) time.”
And you’re right GNAT. Being on time shows the people you’re meeting you value their time too.
@GNAT @SloaneY @FLORC As someone who suffers from anxiety, it can make you late despite your best planned efforts. Social interactions, getting ready to go out to social interactions, can cause a low-level of anxiety and dithering…. and lateness.
I never understood why I was late, it certainly wasn’t disrespect for others or thinking too highly about myself. It turned out to be the exact opposite, anxiety & lack of confidence. People would never guess that.
On behalf of those who quietly suffer with hidden issues, I apologize for lateness!!
Aw, justagirl, I feel bad for making a generalization. I should have said in MY case, it was purely selfishness and poor time management. I didn’t consciously say “I don’t care if I keep this person waiting for an hour because I didn’t start getting ready on time,” but that’s the affect of what I was doing. Thank you for reminding me not to be so broad in my assumptions. I truly feel for anyone struggling with anxiety and I hope you can find a solution and get some relief. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.
That’s what I came to say, Sara. Sometimes, some people just need to be told – straight. I can’t abide lateness. It shows disrespect and lack of consideration, even if it’s unintentional. I run hot and cold with KW, and at the moment it’s a cool period, so I love the props lady.
I was an hour late for my first date with a boyfriend and he was at the bar thinking I was a no show. I have a horrible sense of time (except for going to work). I always think I have more time than I actually do. I am not trying to be rude or anything, but I simply always feel there isn’t enough time to do everything.
My husband is like you Andrea. And it drives me batshit CRAZY. I cannot stand being late. When we first started dating, it was bad enough when he was late to pick me up for dinner, but when he made us late to meet other people, I sat him down and we has a serious discussion about it. He started making more of an effort to try to be on time, and I started lying about the time we needed to be somewhere. If we were supposed to meet someone at 7, I’d tell him 6:30. When we moved in together, I started giving him time checks. He just has no sense of time whatsoever. No one in his family does.
Sorry, Andrea. I just re-read my comment. I didn’t mean to sound so rude! I know the sense of time is a problem for some people. As a teacher, I feel some people – for whatever reason – don’t get the hang of it in some circumstances. If I’m honest, I’m probably a bit the same in some aspects, which likely explains why every clock and watch in my house is 10 minutes fast. I discovered only the other day that my sisters are the same.
I should clarify: We get 2 30 minute breaks per day. At least one of those breaks is cut in half for playground duty. If I’m on the first half, I expect that my replacement is there at his/her set time, as I’d like to visit the loo and/or have lunch or a cup of tea, too. When the replacement arrives 5 minutes before class, well, that’s just bang out of order. Likewise, when I’m responsible for collating assessment data, and give my colleagues three weeks to have their data in, so I can do my job and hand my completed work to the principal, it throws everything out when some ask for extensions or simply don’t bother handing in documents until they get hassled, and then they whinge for getting told off. In my personal life, I’m far more relaxed. If I’m having something on at my house, I leave it up to my guests to arrive whenever it suits them. Most are long-standing friends, so I’m pretty spot-on about predicting their arrival time, and I’m not offended if they arrive late.
When I was in Year 5, I had the most wonderful teacher, Miss Campbell. One day, a special guest was expected at the school to present an important community award. Everything had to be put back because he was about an hour late. This affected our lunchtime, playtime, and obviously, teacher duties, lunch etc. When all the fuss was over, a few boys complained about missing play time. She explained to us that sometimes, things happen that are out of our control, but that we should always endeavour yo be on time. She said her rule was, “It’s far better to be an hour early than two minutes late.” I’ve always remembered that, and if someone is expecting me, do all in my power to be a few minutes early.
I apologise if I gave the wrong/judgey impression.
Andrea
For many that’s true. There always seems to be too many things to do without the proper time needed.
In the case of someone I know who’s chronically late it’s a matter of priorities.
When he would tell us wy he was late we explained how we had to cut things out to make time for other things. And it sucks. I would love to get in a morning run everyday, but I can’t. Would love to eat breakfast while not driving to work some days too.
The phrase you used that there isn’t enough time just reminded me of him as that’s what he always says. I know he can cut things out, but never sees it that way.
I’m not saying you could do this too. Just to him. I don’t know your circumstances and won’t judge. Just to say that clearly to avoid any confusion 😀
If you can get to work on time, you can get to everything else on time. It’s a matter of priorities. You make yourself get to work on time because there are consequences if you don’t. Like the people above who said they were late for dates with people they really liked who called them out on it, and then realized how rude they were and subsequently changed their habits.
I ditto the above comment. If you can get to work on time, you can be on time for everything else as well. It’s just priorities.
EXACTLY (re stop giving stuff and handing things in on time). I have a co-worker who’s always trying to make up for being a jerk and it’s like, just grow the eff up and stop being a jerk! You don’t have to get me stuff. Gr.
I was late a lot when I was younger too and I’m still embarrassed by it. I don’t know why I did it, social anxiety, I think. I didn’t know how to handle my nerves so avoided things until they couldn’t be avoided any longer and then it was too late and I was late. Oy. But I’m super early for things now!
If this doesn’t prove Rachel Weisz’s point, I don’t know what does?
I was thinking the same thing.
yep.
+1000
Hey, it makes me like Kate more for a) realizing that was ridiculous and b) telling the story later.
Exactly!
Me too. Based on the headline of this post, I thought it was going to be reported second hand by someone gossiping about her, but that she told it and knew she was in the wrong, good for her. Not every actor would admit that.
Agree
Exactly. BTW, in the pic where she is laying sideways, is it just me but I don’t recognize her at all.
@fee….you’re not the only one. If her name was not attached to this article, I would not have realized it was KW. She appears to have had MAJOR work done to her face and yet no one on here has mentioned this yet. She looks nothing like she did 5 years ago.
Oh come on!!! I’d fking complain if i had to work from midnight t midday too, that’s horrendous hours. It doesn’t mean i’m ungrateful, but it’s real life, if you’re tired, you are tired and should be allowed to say it without being called ungrateful or brattish. It’s not like she was being obnoxious about it, she was saying it to a colleague that she worked with a few times so was comfortable with her. They had some banter and moved on, It shouldn’t matter how much she is being paid. I’d much rather a working mum admit to being tired and then we could have a moan together, Kate Winslet or not!
She and Leo being friends is cute.
I give her props for never outing Sam Mendes and Rebecca Hall’s affair – i;m not sure if she was playing around herself but either way she could have milked that for public sympathy but she just got divorced and moved on. She and Jennifer Garner should be friends!
I know. You have a normal sleeping schedule. So totally shifting it to midnight to noon the next day anyone would make a comment. I would be exhausted. So she said something. And I’m sure the lady didn’t say it in a mean way since they’ve worked together. More like, oh, shut up, I’m here far longer, and you go, you’re right, and both laugh about what you just said.
Judging that on here, give me a break. No one can complain or whine anymore if you are a celeb. How dare they. Because of course none of us do in our worklife or homelife? Right. And I’m sure the homeless would tell us to shut the F up.
Completely agree with you both.
EVERYONE complains sometimes, and there’s always going to be someone who has it worse. But you’re still allowed to feel what you’re feeling.
yup! Give me someone like Kate Winslet who moans a bit over the supposedly consistently sunny and peppy people on this comment section who apparently never get tired!!
@Louise, hell, yeah. I’m with you.
Agree. No fan of Kate whatsoever but midnight to midday is rough esp., because it throws your internal clock all out of whack.
I’m a night owl, but midnight to midday would make me whine and complain too.
Can’t stand her. She is truly lovely to look at, so I can’t fault her for knowing it, but, God, she’s just so conceited. Every word that comes out of her mouth is based on the theory that she just wants you to know that she’s normal, just like you, only prettier. And what she said about the Oscar over having her children doesn’t surprise me at all. Of course it thrilled her more – it was about her. P.S. I’d love the name Winslet, too, if my other choice was, you know.
You should watch Katy Brand’s impression of her, spot on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDp9FzmjgXw
It’s perfect! Thank you so much! 😂😂😂😂😂
fantastic
That was hilarious. Love Kate Brand.
I think she’s just a little bit insecure. I don’t mind her there’s far worse.
Really? I don’t think she’s insecure at all. I think she’s self-conscious about her own superiority (as she sees it) and doesn’t want the inferior rest of us to hate her for it. I’m sure she has had life experiences that brought her to this place in her own mind, but I think she’s very artificial.
I agree. That piece about her and the cigarettes during a read through was just so pretentious and trying to come across as a humble-brag but it was 100% brag.
+1. Exactly. But I always give her some leeway because she’s got the Brit baggage of being required to never to appear arrogant. I think my main issue with her stems from the fact that she’s a decent actress, but not great, but she gets a lot of credit for being a genuine actress; i.e., so, so overrated. Her annoying, heavy-handed I’m-so-down-to-earth-ness just adds to that.
Yay prop woman. I was a volunteer candy striper for a while at a hospital after I worked a regular day job and couldn’t believe how much the hospital staff complained to me how tired they were LOL…unless you’re working for pennies a day in horrible conditions, don’t complain about being tired in a first world country
Wait, you’re not allowed to be tired if you work in a first world country? When I was a resident, I worked roughly 65 – 80 hours per week, sometimes 30 hour straight shifts. I wouldn’t have the right to say I was tired?
Of course you can be tired, just don’t complain to people who aren’t your peers and make less money then you. You wouldn’t complain to the chief of surgery, why to others?
But the ‘work’ she’s talking about is basically just sitting around and waiting…that’s the majority of time for actors on a set…
Love Kate. She is gorgeous.
She was just saying she was tired. I’m sure she and the woman hold no animosity. I like that she told the story.
Kate just turn 40 two days ago , I had no idea she was only in her 30’s this past decade. She’s been working for a long times, wow. She is stunning and so talented.
I think she was 21 when she did Titanic? So yeah she has been a-list for about 20 years…quite a long time indeed.
I love Kate. My favorite Kate films are Little Children, The Reader, and Labour Day.
Don’t care about her personal life, or her awkward interviews. Kate is a brilliant actress, and is relatable because she isn’t an anorexic bobblehead banging for roles. She earns them with her talent.
She is gorgeous, but I don’t know who the hell that woman is. Look at pictures of her in her 20s. Could be loss of “babyfat” but it looks more like big-time plastic surgery. She’s unrecognizable. I find it kind of sad, because I think British actors usually have more character to them and are less homogeneous and more recognizable. Just another pretty middle-aged mannequin.
I get that you’re not a fan (!) but you really ride this woman HARD. It feels like there has been so many negative Winslet pieces on here in the last few months – and this coming from someone who can take or leave her! I doubt she could say ANYTHING right, in your eyes.
Amen.
Yes.
Yeah. I actually thought this interview was pretty good!
No kidding.
She told the story to point out that no matter how long her work day is, her life on set is still smoother than others there. Kate clearly recognises her privillege and is not too proud to lay out her gaffe on a magazine. (although theres always somebody with a rougher workload than you, so I suppose we are all guilty of this gaffe for saying we are tired or hungry when somebody somewhere must consider what we do an easy well paid job)
Exactly.
I like her for telling this story. The thing is people are egocentric and sometimes you just need someone to show the right perspective to realize how relatively good you have it.
If I was writing this, this is exactly what I would say. I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE Kate. Love her. And not because she was “humble” or whatever, but because she was cool to me. Somewhere along the way, she lost that, and just became SO self concious, in the worst way. First step to that was her insisting that there wasn’t anything weird or strange about her last kid having her last name because she married an idiot who changed his name to Rocknroll……..and I say this in the context that all the rest of her kids having their dad’s last names….but she doesn’t want to admit that she didn’t name her kid Bear Rocknroll because of obvious reasons. But FEMINISM. God.
It’s Mr. Rocknroll that turned the tide, I think.
Meh, she told the story herself and it involved her getting her perspective back almost right away. Those are ridiculous hours and everyone’s entitled to kvetch about their job for a minute.
I think what’s jarring with la Winslet is she pushes a couple of contradictory images at once: the gorgeous English rose glamour girl who is all elegance; the humble broad from down the pub; the millionairess who summers with Richard Branson. They don’t quite match up somehow.
Oh and “Ned”, I can’t even.
Yes! to everything you said. Esp., the latter part. She wants to be everything to everyone.
Still, as far as annoying celebs go, she doesn’t crack the top ten.
I appreciate her being real about the Oscar win. Everyone is always coy and pretending they didn’t claw their way up to the stage and campaigned harder than Hillary. Cough, cough Natalie Portman…
..cough Anne Hathaway lol
Cough…Jennifer Lawrence
I love her as an actress, so I don’t care if she’s annoying sometimes. I didn’t find this interview annoying at all. In fact, I found it charming that she would share that bit about the props women.
I actually love her. She is beautiful, honest, a great actress and her and Leo is my all time favorite real-life ship.
I actually think she sounds better in this interview than the last few.
I think she comes across like a bit of an a**e because she is genuinely not bullS**ting and this is what it sounds like when someone says exactly what they think in an interview.
I like her
Is it just me or does this woman look nothing like Kate Winslet?
I agree. None of the photos look like her. If not told, I wouldn’t even know it was her!
Perhaps the mag is pulling our leg(s) & waiting to see if anyone notices they used a somewhat look-alike!
Nope, not just you. She’s unrecognizable. I like her as an actress but she strikes me as being something of a snob.
that person in the picture on the bed is not kate winslet. i dont know if it is procedures, photoshop or a stand in.
Yeah, I was absolutely thinking “Who’s that woman in the bottom pic?” Looks like Famke Janssen with a chin implant.
I…don’t get your issue with Kate. She comes across as brash, intelligent, fun, and sometimes annoying…but she’s never boring. I like the comment about the set person, as it shows a bit of self-awareness. As a few other people pointed out, Kate kind of is an example of what Rachel Weisz was talking about about how woman aren’t allowed to “not” be like-able like men are.
This. She’s got a bit of an ego. So what. And yeah it does speak to the type of person she is. She complained got called out on it told the story and learned that sometimes her “complaining” isn’t in the best light. Nothing wrong with that at all.
“never boring.” I find her consistently boring because she’s always “I’m very down to earth even though I’ve got all this money.” And she’s always so full on in interviews, kind of trying too hard to be self-effacing.
Who is the woman in the pictures above, because, It certainly does not look like Kate Winslet!
She comes across okay in this interview. I don’t get the hate. I think she acknowledges that she shouldn’t complain when others have it worse. No one is perfect…I sometimes catch myself bitching about little things then say to myself “bitch consider yourself lucky – you have it good so enjoy it while it lasts”
I actually think she comes across as very likeable here. She’s not above getting told to STFU by a props woman, I think a lot of actors would’ve made a huge deal about that. And I like that she was so happy for the Oscar, too. While I legitimately think some actors really don’t care, I think a lot of them are just pretending not to.
As far as Kate Winslet interviews go this is one of the best I’ve read in quite a long time.
I agree. I think she’s always been pretty honest and would probably be fairly good fun in real life
Same here. Love the Oscar enthusiasm.
Nice photos. Who is this again?
What the hell happened to her face? I did not even recognize her
I like Kate Winslet , I don’t know why. She is messy, she can’t manage her time. But she comes across as genuine and good person who tries her best.
She sounds fine in this interview — not annoying. What am I missing?
I am agog at her face!! It just doesn’t look at all like her. The pics are nice, but I swear she’s got cheek implants or something.
I saw her on Wild with Bear Grylls where he takes celebs on outdoor adventures rapeling down mountains and eating bugs and such, and she is one tough woman, that’s for sure. I had no idea she was so ballsy, and she talks tough too. She’s more of a ‘lets get on with it’ kind of woman. She would be a taskmaster I think.
What on earth has she done to her face?! She’s unrecognizable!
I love her. She’s my fantasy drinking bud
I think she f_cked Cameron for the role. Thought it at the time, still think it now.
I’m almost positive I read this about her once, but wasn’t she dating someone in his late twenties when she was only 15 or 16? That must be why she wasn’t shagging behind the bike sheds.
Yeah. Stephen something. She was bordering on being obese and the guy helped her with her confidence. He died of cancer quite young, and she’s always said he was her first love.
Men… I sort of feel bad to say that, but I hate this woman… She isn’t as great actress as she believes she is, she isn’t as natural as she claims she is and she isn’t as intelligent as people believe she is. Is only me who sees this????
I agree with you 100%, but I don’t hate her; it’s just that I can’t ever like her. I think you can be more subtle about how “down to earth” you want to appear to be. She’s just trying so hard all the time to show how genuine she is. Exhausting. But mainly I find her underwhelming in more challenging roles. I thought the young boy was better than she was in The Reader.
I find it more arrogant that she smoked and interrupted everyone around her breathing a sigh of relief. As if everyone in her presence is in awe of her.
Mrs. BPitt, you took The words right out of my mouth. Kate Winslet looks nothing like kate Winslet anymore.
Actually , she has not looked like herself in many years !
Saw Titanic last week and forgot that was before her nose job.
She looked very different with her old nose @
Do people actually find her annoying, or are we just predisposed to be irritated by someone married to a Ned Rocknroll?
Seriously dude, your name was Abel Smith.
I cannot stand people who are late, I’ll give them a couple of chances then never again.
And see has always looked a lot older than her age. I used to like her but in the last few years I’ve come to dislike her, she is so full of herself.