Kate Winslet admits kissing Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Titanic’ was a ‘nightmare’
Never letting go of these memories.
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio may have had chemistry as Rose and Jack in “Titanic,” but their kissing scenes were pretty awkward for the British actress.
According to Winslet, 48, the intimacy with DiCaprio, 49, was “not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“So we kept doing this kiss and I have a lot of pale makeup on,” she said during a Vanity Fair interview, which published on June 12. “And I would have to like do our makeup checks, on both of us between takes.”
“And I would end up looking as though I had been like sucking a caramel chocolate bar after each take because his makeup would come off on me,” she continued. “And he just looked like there was a bit missing from his face because there was a big pale bit from all my makeup getting onto him.”
“The Reader” actress revealed that shooting the infamous “I’m flying” scene was particularly “such a mess” and “a nightmare.”
“Leo couldn’t stop laughing. We had to reshoot this about four times because of the light … [director James Cameron] wanted the light to be specific for this, obviously,” Winslet recalled.
“So I have got hidden in here and here [in her blouse] … I’ve got his makeup and brushes and sponge, and my makeup and brushes and sponge on the other side,” she went on. “And between takes, I was basically redoing our makeup.”
But makeup mishaps weren’t the only obstacle that the actors had to face while shooting the scene. Winslet spoke about how uncomfortable her outfit was, too.
“See I look at that and I just see how much I couldn’t breathe in that bloody corset,” she noted while watching a playback of the scene.
Winslet and DiCaprio became best friends on set, but there were rumors that Winslet and Cameron, 69, feuded at the time. In 1998, she told Rolling Stone that she would “only work for Jim Cameron again for a lot of money.”
“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,” Winslet told Variety. “He knows I will be up for anything. Any challenge, any piece of direction you give me? I’ll try it.”
Cameron told the outlet, “There was never a rift between us. She had a little postpartum depression when she let go of Rose. 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 received harsh remarks about her body after “Titanic” premiered, and found comments to be “bullying” and “borderline abusive.”
Despite the negatives, the actress said she is overall proud of the 1997 movie.
“I feel that it is that film that just keeps giving. Whole other generations of people are discovering the film or seeing it for the first time, and there’s something extraordinary about that.”
Winslet recently starred in the 2024 MAX miniseries “The Regime” and the 2021 HBO show “Mare of Easttown.” She told Variety she “probably” would play Mare again.
“Playing her was like that: I felt refreshed and rejuvenated by how disgusting she was every single day,” she said. “And she was warm and funny, and her ability to see everyone was f–king gorgeous.”
