The Stars of Goodbye June talk Family, Death and Christmas

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Kate Winslet produces, leads and directs an all-star cast in this new festive tearjerker. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00Kate Woods does have kind of mother hen energy.

00:03Is that a thing?

00:03Yeah, she actually really does.

00:05And I read it and of course immediately just wanted to be saying all those lines.

00:09I had the audacity not to peg it, but I was young, thank goodness.

00:13Kate, thank you for two hours of cathartic sobbing.

00:16I probably could have used it.

00:20Can we start quickly and talk about your daughter for a second now?

00:23Because I...

00:24Who's not in this film.

00:25Who's not in this film, no.

00:26But I saw her in The Phoenician Scheme and she's absolutely brilliant in that.

00:30Yeah, she is amazing.

00:30And then I interviewed her afterwards and she was so kind of like effervescent and full of life.

00:36And I left like feeling like kind of you're walking on air.

00:38And it's a similar feeling to what I got like a decade ago when I met you.

00:42We are quite similar.

00:43I mean, I think as a family, we do have a tendency to be pretty good life livers and be grateful

00:50and approach everything with kindness and positivity.

00:54It's part of how we've parented the kids actually.

00:58You must be having the time of your life at the moment then, because then another prodigy

01:03steps up.

01:05In a way, you're sunsetting the screenplay of this, not only something that you've deemed

01:08fit to kind of have your directorial debut, but also like a bunch of powerhouse performers

01:13have seen fit to kind of breathe life into.

01:15Like, how does this year, what's happening with these two, not kids, but these two children

01:22of yours, compared to the other successes you've had in your career?

01:25You must be like...

01:25Oh, it's so...

01:26It's...

01:26I mean, I just...

01:27Well, first of all, you know, I didn't expect to work with my son in this capacity.

01:33It doesn't surprise me that he has also ended up going into the industry, because he's also

01:38an actor as well.

01:40It actually doesn't surprise me.

01:43But I think watching him grow and change as a young screenwriter, who was terrified, who

01:51thought he'd, you know, he'd gotten a place in screenwriting school and then brilliant

01:55national film and television school here in London.

01:57He did this intense six-month course, during which time he was encouraged by a fantastic

02:02tutor, write what you know right from the heart.

02:05And he's like staring at a class full of people who are much, much older than him, thinking,

02:09what the hell am I doing here?

02:10And that alone was really brave, you know, going back to school in a way, having always

02:16written, always loved it, and been very passionate about it.

02:19It's a big part of his creativity.

02:20That doesn't necessarily translate into being able to actually write a screenplay.

02:23I found it quite a difficult watch, because I'm at an age now where I've, like,

02:27lost my grandparents, so I've kind of been through those experiences in hospitals.

02:31My parents are getting older, my mum sadly suffers from MS, and you start to realise

02:35how kind of precious those little, the moments that you have together at times, like Christmas,

02:39when you're living away and you don't often actually get to reconnect.

02:42Yeah.

02:42But what is it about family, death and Christmas that just sticks the knife in, do you think?

02:48Because they're all such, like, charged concepts as they are.

02:53Well, they're about entrapment.

02:54You can't run away from it.

02:56You can't run away from Christmas unless you hide, or go somewhere east, you know?

03:00But that's what it is.

03:02It's a double entrapment.

03:03You've got a death you've got to face, and you've got the bringing together of Christmas,

03:06which is a thing that wraps it all around it.

03:08So there's no way you're going to avoid people you've managed to avoid, even if you love them

03:12for a long time.

03:13You start with it.

03:14You share blood.

03:15You actually can't.

03:16You can run, but you can't hide.

03:17I mean, I think Christmas, because, I mean, Joe setting the film at Christmas, I thought

03:22it was just such a stroke of genius, not least because it meant that we had this in-built clock ticking, you know,

03:29as you creep closer to that big day, which everyone can relate to, but also for the family,

03:34they're desperately trying to get to that big day so that they can give their mother this one last Christmas.

03:38And I think, you know, I mean, Christmas is a very heightened emotional time for so many people, isn't it?

03:43You know, it can be wonderful.

03:45It can be really challenging, and it sort of changes all the time.

03:48I think especially as you grow up and siblings, you know, you have your own families and you go off

03:53and live in different countries and so on, you're absolutely right.

03:55Like, sometimes Christmas is that one time of year when you might all see each other.

03:59And so I think it's just a very relatable scenario for audiences, this theme, this backdrop of Christmas,

04:06and the sort of the environment that sort of thrusts us all into, it feels quite appropriately intense.

04:14It was such a pleasure, like, verging on magical, it was just one of the best jobs ever.

04:19Totally, I can't come with one of the most satisfying professional experiences of my life.

04:24For me too.

04:26Precious, a precious experience.

04:27And Kate would just have kind of mother hen energy, is that a thing?

04:31Yeah, she actually really does.

04:32I think, like, generally, like, what was that kind of situation?

04:35You guys have obviously got a bit of a partnership, you worked together twice very recently,

04:39you guys have worked together before as well, like, what was that kind of vibe on set?

04:43How was her role with the exec producer, with the director, with the co-performer?

04:48She was just always very present, no matter which hat she was wearing.

04:51And very natural, it's not like, there wasn't like, it's no sort of switching.

04:55It's just an organic.

04:55She's just always been able to hold many things at one time.

05:00She's a brilliant leader, but she's also very kind and caring and generous.

05:06Yeah, and she's absolutely covered every area.

05:09She knows exactly, because she's so experienced and so brilliant anyway,

05:12but she knows what's going on in every department.

05:15She knows, not just, you know, in front of the camera, which she's brilliant at,

05:19because she's a great actress and she knows what actors require,

05:22but she knows what everybody, because of their experience,

05:25and because of her kindness and her brilliance and her intelligence,

05:28she knows how to make it all come together.

05:31It's just great directing, you know, without even pointing to the camera.

05:33He had written something that was, first of all, the dialogue.

05:38So for me as an actor, reading it, you know, he hands it to me,

05:40he's like, oh, I've written this thing, it's probably not very good,

05:42you know, mum, will you read it?

05:44And I read it, and of course, immediately just wanted to be saying all those lines,

05:48because it was, his knack for dialogue is so sharp, very, very natural.

05:54I thought, oh my god, these are people, these are, this is sort of everyone we know.

05:58I mean, it really felt like all of my friends, lots of his friends,

06:01like we have a huge family on my side and also on his dad's side.

06:06There's tons and tons and tons of relatives.

06:08And so actually it just felt extremely relatable.

06:11But to be able to write a story that is, yes, about loss,

06:15but is much more about family and life and love,

06:19and to inject it with so much humour as well,

06:23and it's touching, and it pulls you in,

06:26you know, that sort of, that sleight of hand

06:29and how he grew and learnt and took feedback and notes

06:34and changed things over the development process.

06:36It was absolutely amazing. I loved all of it.

06:38I just wanted to say before I go, like,

06:39Timothy, I know you've spoken about,

06:41I think you had leukaemia in the 90s.

06:45Did that give you a different perspective?

06:46That wasn't much fun.

06:47I bet. I imagine that gave you a different perspective

06:50on this kind of story.

06:52Well, I had a peek over the precipice, you know,

06:55and I know that's why a lot of this is accurate,

06:57because I had a young family, and I didn't.

07:00I had the audacity not to peg it.

07:02But I was young, thank goodness,

07:04and I had a lot of responsibility.

07:05So I understand it. I don't know what that's like.

07:08The pain of people losing you,

07:10that was the painful thing.

07:12But that's why I know this film is accurate.

07:14But the great thing is that life goes on, you know,

07:17and the petty things in life, you know, when you're not ill.

07:20If you're in a state of profundity,

07:22then there's something wrong with you.

07:23If you're actually going, oh, shit, that's annoying,

07:26then you're all right.

07:27So there's a double thing to play, you know,

07:30and this covers all of that.

07:31It's profound, but people,

07:32she's trying to get people being petty.

07:35A dying woman's orchestrating a bunch of dysfunctional kids

07:38to come and love each other properly.

07:40Well, I thought it was a great piece of work.

07:42At my age now with, like, losing grandparents,

07:45parents getting older and, like, being a dad and stuff,

07:48it kind of, it felt like those kind of universal themes

07:51really got the knife under the ribcage kind of thing,

07:54which I thought is testament to the directing,

07:57testament to the script,

07:57and testament to you guys for being a great cast together.

08:00So congratulations.

08:01Hope you all have lovely Christmases

08:02with absolutely no death at all.

08:04I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys do next.

08:13Here for the dynasty, the Winterslet dynasty.

08:17Oh, my God, I don't think we see ourselves like that at all.

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