'I was proud to show my 40-something post-children body': Kate Winslet discusses filming explicit sex scene with Saoirse Ronan, 26, which they choreographed for Ammonite

She's generating Oscar buzz with her performance in the lesbian romantic drama Ammonite in which she stars with Saoirse Ronan.

And Kate Winslet told The Hollywood Reporter that not only is she proud she got to show off her naked 40-something, post-children body in the movie; she's also 'the proudest' she's ever felt about a very intimate sex scene that's included in a film.

'It's definitely not like eating a sandwich,' she said of the most explicit scene. 'Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves.'

Took control: Kate Winslet reveals during a cover interview for THR.com that she and her co-star Saoirse Ronan choreographed their own explicit sex scene in new film Ammonite

Took control: Kate Winslet reveals during a cover interview for THR.com that she and her co-star Saoirse Ronan choreographed their own explicit sex scene in new film Ammonite

The British actress, 44, is featured in a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the public premiere of Ammonite at the Toronto International Film Festival  next month.

It had been due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May but the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to that.

The movie, set in England in the 1840s, tells the story of Mary Anning, a real-life fossil hunter, and the married woman she has a relationship with. 

Ammonite, set in England in the 1840s, tells the story of Mary Anning, a real-life fossil hunter, played by Winslet
Ronan plays the married woman Anning has an affair with

Lesbian drama: Ammonite, set in England in the 1840s, tells the story of Mary Anning, a real-life fossil hunter, played by Winslet, and the married woman (Ronan) she has a relationship with

Collaboration: 'It's definitely not like eating a sandwich,' she said of the most explicit scene. 'Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves'

Collaboration: 'It's definitely not like eating a sandwich,' she said of the most explicit scene. 'Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves'

Star power: Speaking of the sex scenes, Winslet explained that the director Francis Lee had been 'naturally very nervous'.  'I just said to him, 'Listen, let us work it out.' And we did,' she said

Star power: Speaking of the sex scenes, Winslet explained that the director Francis Lee had been 'naturally very nervous'.  'I just said to him, 'Listen, let us work it out.' And we did,' she said

Publicity: The British actress, 44, is featured in a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the public premiere of Ammonite at the Toronto International Film Festival next month

Publicity: The British actress, 44, is featured in a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the public premiere of Ammonite at the Toronto International Film Festival next month

Speaking of the sex scenes, Winslet explained that the director Francis Lee had been 'naturally very nervous'.

So the Oscar-winning star took control.

'I just said to him, 'Listen, let us work it out.' And we did,' Winslet said of the set piece with Ronan.

''We'll start here. We'll do this with the kissing, boobs, you go down there, then you do this, then you climb up here.' I mean, we marked out the beats of the scene so that we were anchored in something that just supported the narrative,' she said.

'I felt the proudest I've ever felt doing a love scene on Ammonite. And I felt by far the least self-conscious,' Winslet added.

Candid: Winslet, pictured in 2018, said not only is she proud she got to show off her naked 40-something, post-children body in the movie; she's also 'the proudest' she's ever felt about a very intimate sex scene that's included in a film

 Candid: Winslet, pictured in 2018, said not only is she proud she got to show off her naked 40-something, post-children body in the movie; she's also 'the proudest' she's ever felt about a very intimate sex scene that's included in a film

As for the suggestion that she could have used a body double, The Hollywood Reporter recounts that the Titanic star laughed at the suggestion.

'I'm nearly 45, and Saoirse is almost half my age. And to have an opportunity to be my real 40-something self, post-children, you know? Women aren't really having the courage to do that,' Winslet told the outlet.

The actress has three children - Mia, 19, with first husband Jim Threapleton, Joe, 16, with second husband Sam Mendes, and Bear, six, with current husband Edward Abel Smith.

She explained about doing the nude scenes for Ammonite: 'I was just excited to say, 'This is what it is, peeps. This is how I am now,' and it's very much not the body I had 20 years ago.'

Winslet said she took extra steps to keep her portrayal authentic.  

'I made sure that I didn't lose weight — which I do a lot, actually, on films,' she revealed. 

'I hate to talk about weight, but I only say it in the context of, it was a conscious effort on my part to really make sure that I didn't shrink or change myself for the sake of being naked. I did the opposite.'

Mom: The Oscar-winning star, pictured in NYC in 2018, has three children - Mia, 19, with first husband Jim Threapleton, Joe, 16, with second husband Sam Mendes, and Bear, six, with current husband Edward Abel Smith

Mom: The Oscar-winning star, pictured in NYC in 2018, has three children - Mia, 19, with first husband Jim Threapleton, Joe, 16, with second husband Sam Mendes, and Bear, six, with current husband Edward Abel Smith

Due to the pandemic, Winslet will not be in Toronto in support of Ammonite, but instead will make a virtual appearance via Zoom from her home in England to collect the festival's Tribute Actor Award.

In reflecting on the coronavirus crisis, she said that starring in Steven Soderbergh's pandemic movie Contagion, released in 2011, had prepared her somewhat for the COVID-19 outbreak.

She had been in Philadelphia filming Mare Of Easttown for HBO when Hollywood production was shut down.

Having seen reports from Wuhan, China, and then the virus' spread in Italy and into the rest of Europe, she had started taking precautions long before anyone else started taking it seriously.

'People thought I was crazy because I had been walking around [Philadelphia] wearing a mask for weeks, going into the grocery store and wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and wearing gloves,' she told The Hollywood Reporter.

'Then all of a sudden March 13 came around, and people were like, 'F***, where do I get one of those masks?''

Knowledge: In reflecting on the coronavirus crisis, Winslet told THR said that starring in Steven Soderbergh's 2011 pandemic movie Contagion prepared her for the COVID-19 outbreak

Knowledge: In reflecting on the coronavirus crisis, Winslet told THR said that starring in Steven Soderbergh's 2011 pandemic movie Contagion prepared her for the COVID-19 outbreak

Prepared: In March she had been filming HBO's Mare of Easttown and said: 'People thought I was crazy because I had been walking around [Philadelphia] wearing a mask for weeks, going into the grocery store and wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and wearing gloves'

Prepared: In March she had been filming HBO's Mare of Easttown and said: 'People thought I was crazy because I had been walking around [Philadelphia] wearing a mask for weeks, going into the grocery store and wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and wearing gloves'

In March, Winslet had joined her Contagion co-stars for PSAs encouraging people to take precautions such as washing their hands to try and limit the spread of the coronavirus.

'Wash your hands like your life depends on it,' Winslet said in her PSA. 'Because right now, in particular, it just might.'

In the movie, she played an epidemiologist in the US who is called on to try and deal with a lethal and fast-moving influenza that is spreading around the world.

She told The Hollywood Reporter that in the real-life pandemic, she has two close friends who contracted COVID-19. 

'One was in L.A. and was very lucky to get on a trial using convalescent plasma and did really, really well in the space of, like, 72 hours after the treatment,' she explained.

'And a dialect coach who lives in London has had it, was in hospital for 11 weeks, is out, and has had every lung test, blood test, blood pressure test, and is clear of everything but just cannot get better — is breathless, lethargic, still feels very unwell.' 

Life imitates art: In Contagion, Winslet starred as an epidemiologist in the US who is called on to try and deal with a lethal and fast-moving influenza that is spreading around the world

Life imitates art: In Contagion, Winslet starred as an epidemiologist in the US who is called on to try and deal with a lethal and fast-moving influenza that is spreading around the world

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