Kate Winslet Talks About ‘Steve Jobs’ | Verve Magazine
India's premier luxury lifestyle women's magazine
Verve People
October 22, 2015

Kate Winslet Talks About ‘Steve Jobs’

Images and text courtesy Lancome

Right in time for her big movie release, Kate Winslet talks shop

On playing Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs “I have met Joanna. Several times. She and I have spent many hours talking about the time that she spent in her life with Steve Jobs, both professionally as well as socially. They were quite good friends outside of their working relationship. She has been incredibly generous with her anecdotes, and information. She has a fantastic memory too, so there are little details that she has been able to share with me that I know not everyone has had the same kind of access to. She is a really wonderful woman, and I have been honoured to play this role. Although I will say, having played people who have really existed in the past, invariably I have played people who have passed along. Joanna is still here. She is larger than life, and incredibly present. So I really hope she likes my portrayal of her in the final film. I am pretty nervous about that!”

Challenging roles and shoots… “The most challenging psychologically was by far Hanna Schmitz in The Reader. It was very hard to develop any kind of understanding for a woman who had done something so evil during the holocaust. In spite of her lack of intelligence, it didn’t excuse the crime. I found that hard. And physically? I would have to say Titanic. It was the stamina that was the killer on that. It was a long seven months shoot in cold water, most of which was filmed at night. We had plenty of bumps and bruises from some of the bigger scenes when the ship is sinking. And some scary moments too. It was pretty exhausting.

Post Insurgent, what made you want to take part again? Does your character evolve much? “My character Janine, is written into the book of Insurgent, so naturally I was very excited that I had the opportunity to play the role again. In actual fact I was really looking forward to it, since we filmed Divergent when I was pregnant. And I really didn’t feel too good. I was very tired, and I didn’t feel that I was concentrating as well as normal. Baby brain! Not much that can be done about it. So to play Janine again, having had my baby, was a real thrill. And does she evolve? To be honest she just gets even more evil.”

How do you choose a role and when do you know it’s made for you? “There are often many reasons why it will feel that a particular role is right. And often those reasons have a lot more to do with other factors and not just with the character itself. The director plays a big part for me, as does the screenplay. And if I am lucky enough to discover that other actors are already attached, that often plays a big part too. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with some really incredible directors and actors in my career, in particular the last few years. I don’t know if one ever really knows if the decision to play a role or not, is the right one. There’s always that leap of faith and that sense of mystery. But that is what makes it so exciting and potentially risky!”

How is it to shoot with Michael Fassbender and Danny Boyle? “Working with these two brilliant men has been nothing short of thrilling every day. Michael Fassbender is so much fun, he is absolutely hilarious! As well as being incredibly professional. We are very similar in our approach to the work, and we both really like to have fun too. And Danny Boyle is a very sweet, kind, and brilliant man. I had never met either of them before, so I have really loved this experience.”

The last book you read… “Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs.”

The last movie you loved… “I loved The Wolf of Wall Street so much! I can still close my eyes and picture entire scenes that had me on the floor howling with laughter!”

Something on your bucketlist (professionally)… “I would still like to play a man one day.”

Don’t miss 21 things you should know about Kate Winslet (off screen)

Related posts from Verve:


Leave a Reply

Verve Trending

Sorry. No data so far.