When Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet saw Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time in three years, she wept.
Winslet, who recently starred in the HBO Max show Mare of Easttown, told The Guardian that she found herself overwhelmed with emotion when the two met in Los Angeles to catch up.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” says Winslet. “I’ve known him for half my life! It’s not as if I’ve found myself in New York or he’s been in London and there’s been a chance to have dinner or grab a coffee and a catch up. We haven’t been able to leave our countries. Like so many friendships globally, we’ve missed each other because of Covid. He’s my friend, my really close friend. We’re bonded for life.”
So they love each other near, far, wherever they are.
The two famously played the lead roles in 1997’s Titanic, when they were in their 20s, and they worked together again more recently in the divorce drama Revolutionary Road in 2008. The author of the piece mentioned they interviewed DiCaprio at the time of filming, which brought back memories for Winslet.
“I remember! I remember that he was! It wasn’t pleasant for any of us, but we were all in it together. Though he had way more days off than I ever bloody did. I guess I was raised to be grateful and just get on with it. I didn’t feel it was my right to be miserable, and if I was miserable I certainly would not have let a journalist know. There is no way I would have let that slip!”
Winslet, who won her most recent Oscar for 2009’s The Reader, recently won an Emmy for Mare of Easttown for her portrayal of detective Mare Sheehan. She said the script for the show really got her excited to work on it, especially since they arrived one by one.
“I’d say: ‘Oh my God, episode five just came in’, then Saoirse [her costar] would go ‘Jesus fooking Christ, this is so exciting, you’ve gotta tell me what happens!’ It came along just as people badly needed something to discuss other than who they knew who had died from Covid. It put families on couches, and there was a nostalgic quality to the one-episode-a-week format. It gets conversation going while you’re waiting for the next one.
Another fun fact – she’s also a binger, just like the rest of us.
“Covid has taught me how to binge. In more ways than one. But yes, Ned and I watched Ted Lasso pretty much back-to-back. Covid made you not feel so bad about hanging out on the couch.”
Meanwhile, DiCaprio’s latest movie, Don’t Look Up, is available to stream on Netflix.