Kate Winslet has claimed some of the crew on her directorial debut Goodbye June were underpaid because she couldn’t secure a big enough budget for the film.
The Titanic star, 50, hit out at sexism within the cinema industry as she revealed that being a female director meant she was forced to call in favours to get Goodbye June made as people wouldn’t invest.
This meant that some crew who wanted to work on the film had to take less than their weekly rate to work on it, Kate claimed.
Appearing on Kermode & Mayo’s Take podcast on Saturday, Kate said: ‘When you’re a woman, you do a huge amount of ringing around and calling in favours so sometimes with a budget like Goodbye June you might be asking people to come and work for less than their weekly rate.
‘I’m talking about department heads and their crew. Sometimes people take a little bit of a hit because they want to come and be part of that experience and they want to support you and we did have that on Goodbye June.’
She went on to say that female actors who become directors are underestimated and people assume they won’t know what they’re doing, whereas there’s an automatic assumption men will.
Kate Winslet has said some of the crew on her directorial debut Goodbye June were underpaid because she couldn’t secure a big enough budget for the film (Seen last week)
The Titanic star, 50, hit out at sexism within the cinema industry as she revealed that being a female director meant she was forced to call in favours to get Goodbye June made (Seen in the film with Helen Mirren)
‘It’s somehow there’s this societal assumption that they will automatically know what they’re doing, whereas the same assumption is not made of women,’ Kate said.
‘That’s not right and actually it’s not fair because what it does mean is that it will be harder for us to get films made, harder for us to get the kind of budgets that we need to make those films.’
She continued: ‘But actually, I just think there’s this very strange thing with women, especially when you’re an actress who transitions into directing people.
‘People just think that you’re a little bit too vain and want to stay in your trailer all day, and “will you really do it well?”‘
Kate added: ‘What I would say is that I think there’s a different language that is used when addressing female directors to male directors.
‘It’s a different set of language that is used talking to actresses who become directors as opposed to male actors who become directors.
‘Strangely with male actors – and this is absolutely no criticism of them at all because when I think about the brilliant young actors in this country who have been directing recently it’s incredibly exciting – but they’re just allowed to get on with it.’
Kate has gone behind the camera for the first time as she made her directorial debut for the Netflix family drama.
Appearing on Kermode & Mayo’s Takepodcast on Saturday, Kate said: ‘When you’re a woman, you do a huge amount of ringing around and calling in favours’ (Seen earlier this month)
The titular character June is played by Helen Mirren, with Timothy Spall as her husband Bernie, and Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, and Johnny Flynn joining Winslet in playing their children
The film follows four siblings gathering together to support their mother as her health declines.
The titular character June is played by Helen Mirren, with Timothy Spall as her husband Bernie, and Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, and Johnny Flynn joining Winslet in playing their children.
The project brought up feelings about Kate’s own mother, Sally Bridges-Winslet, who died from ovarian cancer in 2017.
Her son Joe Anders, 21, wrote the screenplay for the film, which landed on the streaming platform last week.
While it was a major shakeup for Kate, placing her outside her comfort zone, she admitted she hid any worries she had from her co-stars including Helen Mirren, particularly her fatigue.
She candidly said to Grazia magazine: ‘The hardest part was leaving any concerns I had at the door so that the actors never ever felt that.
‘It was up to me to set the tone every single day, even if I was knackered or worried about the budget.’
The Titanic actress also said she was conscious of her moving behind the camera as a female, compared to her male counterparts.
She explained: ‘When male actors go into directing, people are like “Oh, interesting,” whereas if it’s a woman they’re like “OK, come on, show us what you think you can do”.’
Despite the pressures behind the screen, Kate said she would ‘really, really love to direct again’.
Elsewhere Kate attended a Q&A for her movie where she revealed the advice she swears by.
‘What was your best director note for you, the actor, playing Julia?’ she was asked at one point.
‘Don’t f*** it up,’ the star answered plainly in a video obtained by John Pascarella, eliciting a room full of laughter. She lightheartedly added, ‘I think that’s always my note to myself anyway.’
