Kate Winslet and James Cameron are shutting down speculation that they feuded after filming “Titanic.”
“There was never a rift between us,” the movie’s director told Variety in a profile on the actress published Wednesday.
“She had a little postpartum depression when she let go of [the character of] Rose,” he explained. “She and I have talked about the fact that she goes really, really deep, and her characters leave a lasting, sometimes dramatic impression on her.”
Winslet, for her part, said, “There’s a part of me that feels almost sad that stupid, speculative ‘Titanic’ stuff at the time overshadowed the actual relationship I have with him.”
But it wasn’t that speculative, as Winslet told the Los Angeles Times in April 1997 – eight months before the once-highest-grossing film of all time hit theaters – that one “would have to pay [her] a lot of money to work with Jim again.”
She told the same outlet the following month, “[Cameron] has a temper like you wouldn’t believe. … As it was, the actors got off lightly. I think Jim knew he couldn’t shout at us the way he did to his crew because our performances would be no good.”
The Oscar winner went on to characterize Cameron to the LA Times as “a really tough nut to crack,” as “there were times [she] was genuinely frightened of him.”
However, she confessed at the time that she eventually “did come to understand him.”
Winslet, who will be back in Cameron’s next installment of “Avatar,” told Variety, “He knows I will be up for anything. Any challenge, any piece of direction you give me? I’ll try it.”
Cameron noted he’s “in the cutting room now” and that he “work[s] with her performance every day.”
Before taking on her role as Na’vi free-diver Ronal in 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Winslet learned to free dive without oxygen for more than seven minutes.
Cameron revealed she requested that production send a trainer to her home pool in order to prepare for the demanding underwater scenes.
“It’s all mental. It’s not physical,” the filmmaker insisted. “Kate and Sigourney [Weaver] as well – these are strong-willed people that have mastery over their complete instrument, their mind, their voice, their body, everything. And what makes them a good actor also made them good at learning how to free dive.”
A modest Winslet added, “I think we all decide these things about what our bodies are capable of and what our minds are capable of. It gives one a sense of incredible hope about all the things I might still be able to try and do.”
