After surviving the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ onscreen and seeing her lover freeze to death, surely nothing could faze Oscar-winning star Kate Winslet?
Facing an iceberg with Leo DiCaprio in an appalling disaster is one thing but handling a gun is something else.
Amazingly, the Oscar winner, seen as one of her generation’s finest actresses, had never had to handle a weapon until her latest gritty role, in Mare of Easttown.
But luckily, Kate, 45, found a kindred spirit with a similar love of swearing who showed her how to do it – and became a good friend.
DetSgt Christine Bleiler and Kate bonded over their less-than-perfect personal lives, divorce and being single mums.
Christine, 41, taught Kate how to be a small-town cop and showed her the mean streets of Pennsylvania, where the HBO crime drama is set.
The results were extraordinary. The series has an 8.5 out of 10 rating on IMDB and Kate, dubbed the sinking man’s crumpet after Titanic, won universal acclaim for her role as Det Mare Sheehan.
In the seven-parter, Mare investigates the murder of a teenage mum while still trying to find a missing girl. Many locals doubt her detective skills and she also faces personal troubles – a son’s suicide and a custody battle for her grandson with her ex-heroin addict daughter-in-law. Christine said: “Kate is as cool as sh** and I was surprised at how well we got on.
“But we have similar personalities and the same sense of humour. We’ve both been through marriages and raising kids and we are both very career-focused.
“We also have foul mouths – we are tit for tat on that. She says f*** a lot while I say sh**.
“The guys I work with always tell me they can’t believe some of the things that come out of my mouth, and Kate is the same.
“I was teasing her the other day, saying I don’t know how people would handle the two of us together, it would be too much.”
Twice-divorced, mum-of-three Kate was traumatised by the gritty plot and, after several months of prepping, declared: “I’d be a f***ing lousy detective.”
She added: “I could never the job Mare does. I don’t think I have the mental stamina that’s required.
“But I had a great woman named Christine Bleiler. She was incredible and very supportive and was on set a lot.”
Writer Brad Ingelsby drew heavily on Christine’s life for Mare of Easttown, including kidnap cases she investigated. —MIRROR
