Kate Winslet and James Cameron are putting rumors that they once feuded to rest.
“There was never a rift between us,” Cameron, 69, told Variety for the outlet’s Wednesday, June 12, profile on Winslet, 48. “She had a little postpartum depression when she let go of [her Titanic character] 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.”
Cameron first directed Winslet in 1997’s Titanic. The actress, who starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the Oscar-winning film, sparked speculation that she and Cameron had clashed on set after telling the Los Angeles Times that she would need “a lot of money to work with [Cameron] again” in 1997.
One month later, Winslet told the same outlet that Cameron had “a temper like you couldn’t believe” and she was “genuinely frightened of him” at times. Looking back now, Winslet wishes there’d been a different narrative about their collaboration.
“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,” she told Variety. “He knows I will be up for anything. Any challenge, any piece of direction you give me? I’ll try it.”
The pair got a chance to work together again on Cameron’s 2022 film Avatar: The Way of Water. Although Winslet told the L.A. Times in 1997 that she would “never” do another movie where water was a major component after nearly drowning while filming Titanic, she had to learn to free dive for the Avatar sequel.
Winslet even broke a record previously held by Tom Cruise by holding her breath underwater for seven minutes and 14 seconds while filming a scene for the science fiction film. (Cruise, 61, lasted six minutes underwater shooting 2015’s Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation.)
“Poor Tom,” Winslet told USA Today in December 2022. “I mean, I don’t know Tom at all — I’ve never met him in my life — but I’m sure he’s getting very fed up of hearing this story of how I broke his record. I loved it, though. … I was amazed how good I was at it and how I just kept getting better.”
Cameron told Variety on Tuesday that Winslet’s free diving success is “all mental” rather than physical.
“Kate and [Avatar star] Sigourney [Weaver] as well — these are strong-willed people that have mastery over their complete instrument, their mind, their voice, their body, everything,” he said. “And what makes them a good actor also made them good at learning how to free dive.”
Winslet, who is also set to appear in the upcoming third Avatar installment, added that setting the record had changed her outlook on her own limitations, or lack thereof.
“I think we all decide these things about what our bodies are capable of, and what our minds are capable of,” she said. “It gives one a sense of incredible hope about all the things I might still be able to try and do.”
