For Kate Winslet, one of the more exciting things about returning to play the coldblooded Jeanine in the second instalment of the Divergent series is the fact that she wasn’t pregnant this time.
“It affects your ability to feel like you’re not actually disappearing,” said Winslet, 39. “I just didn’t feel very together at all, physically or mentally. I don’t have those great, strong, glowing pregnancies.”
“It was really wonderful to be in a position where I did have my brain back,” she said. Shailene Woodley noted that she was afraid to be too physical with Winslet during Divergent, but that the gloves came off this time.
In their work, Woodley and Winslet have developed a bond that goes beyond a co-star connection. Both got their first significant burst of fame at age 21, Winslet with Titanic, and Woodley with her role in Divergent.
Though Woodley credits Winslet with offering her helpful advice about the temporality of celebrity, Winslet said that Woodley’s steadfast goals are what will see her through trying times, even in an environment of heightened scrutiny and access.
“She has values that are very, very important to her and she lives by them 100 per cent. That is very unusual. I don’t think I possessed to that extent,” said Winslet, who still avoids media, social and otherwise, as a rule.
“It’s how I’ve stayed sane. I don’t read reviews. I don’t read magazine articles that I’ve been in. I don’t allow magazines into the home. I just don’t,” she said.
Ultimately, Winslet’s work in the Divergent films is for her three kids, ages 14, 11 and 15 months.
“My children can’t see most of the films I’ve been in because I either die or take my clothes off,” said Winslet, laughing.
“At a certain point in one’s career, it’s really wonderful when your child turns around and goes ‘oh my god, mommy, you have to be in that film. My friends are going to die,’” she said animatedly.
She’s always surprised at just how opinionated her kids are about her career, sometimes cautioning her to avoid something that they feel she’s “done before”. Speaking of a secretive cameo that she was recently offered, Winslet said that when she told her 11-year-old son, his world came to a stop.
“I actually had to video his reaction because it was so profound,” she said.
