Kate Winslet revealed that while shooting a scene for her upcoming biopic Lee, a crew member advised her to "sit up straighter" to make her stomach look flatter during a bikini scene... and she wasn't having it.
Last month, the actor opened up to Harper's Bazaarabout the incident.
In the film, Winslet portrays Lee Miller, the acclaimed model and photojournalist who became one of four female photographers accredited as official war correspondents with the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
Winslet said that while she was filming a scene in a bikini, a crew member suggested she change the way she was sitting to hide her "belly rolls."
The actor explained:
“There’s a bit where Lee’s sitting on a bench in a bikini... And one of the crew came up between takes and said, ‘You might want to sit up straighter."
“So you can’t see my belly rolls? Not on your life! It was deliberate, you know?”
She continued that she doesn't want to look "perfect" on screen.
“I take pride in it because it is my life on my face, and that matters."
"It wouldn’t occur to me to cover that up.”
“I think people know better than to say, ‘You might wanna do something about those wrinkles.’”
“I’m more comfortable in myself as each year passes. It enables me to allow the opinions of others to evaporate.”
People on social media applauded Winslet for refusing to make the suggested change.
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They also shared their disappointment that someone even made such a suggestion.
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And though Winslet appreciates the support from her fans who commend her for promoting body positivity, she does not think she should be called "brave" for doing so.
On the Sept. 11 episode of the How To Fail podcast, Winslet said “it’s so f**king annoying" being referred to as "brave" for shooting topless scenes.
“Brave is going to the front line. Brave is being an NHS nurse in COVID. You know? That’s brave."
"It’s not flipping brave to go topless or have no makeup or no botox so that you can move your face around and morph it into different characters."
"That’s not brave. That’s just being a real person.”
“The use of this word, ‘brave’... I think it’s only because they just haven’t come up with a better word yet."
Winslet suggested "honest."
In that case, thank you for being honest, Kate.
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