Kate Winslet was just another Hollywood actress — until she wasn't

Why 'Mare of Easttown' feels like a role the actress has been building toward her entire career

Kate Winslet.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Alamy Stock Photo, HBO, iStock)

The Kate Winslet story I can't stop thinking about is the one where she almost dies.

It's 2018, and she is back on set with Titanic director James Cameron, shooting the first of the forever-forthcoming Avatar sequels. For this particular scene, Winslet has to hold her breath at the bottom of a 25-foot-deep pool for several minutes on end. "I was like, 'Yeah, I'm definitely dead,'" she later recalled thinking. "And then finally when I realized, 'Oh, I am in fact about to die,' I came up, and couldn't believe it was seven-minutes-14."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.