More than 30 years after her first-ever film role in 1994's critically-acclaimed Heavenly Creatures, Kate Winslet is opening up about some of her own early experiences that informed her performance.
In the film, which was directed by Peter Jackson, Winslet and Yellowjackets actress Melanie Lynskey portrayed real-life teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who ended up murdering Parker's mother as a result of their obsessive relationship with each other.
In a recent interview with cinematographer Roger Deakins on his Team Deakins podcast, the 50-year-old Oscar-winner opened up about her own early experiences exploring her sexuality as a teenager.
“I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. I mean, some of my first, kind of, intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls,” Winslet said during the chat with Deakins (per Us Weekly). “Like, I’d kissed a few girls, I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction.”
Winslet went on to explain that those early experiences helped prepare her for the role in Heavenly Creatures.
"At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood," she continued.
Although the girls portrayed in the film committed a horrible crime, Winslet said she was "immediately" drawn to the tragic aspects of their story that ultimately led to their crimes.
Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in 1994's Heavenly Creatures.
“I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in, that obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them and they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities," she explained.
“They murdered someone because they truly believed that that person was preventing them from being together," Winslet added. "And whilst, of course, I couldn’t truly understand that part, I could certainly understand how influenced a young person’s mind can become by just one other person."