I lived out moments of my mother's passing I never saw': Kate Winslet on grief, going red and Goodbye June

"I do have tremendous amounts of peace and acceptance around what happened because of how we were able to make it for her. Winslet's eldest son, Joe, was then 13. For him as a child, seeing that love poured into this moment was huge. And then he discovered through conversations with friends that that's so rarely the case. Six years later, in 2023, Joe decided to turn the experience into a screenplay."

"However much I would try to separate my own personal experience from the experience we were having as this fictional family, she says, it was almost impossible. At times I almost felt like I was living out moments of my own mother's passing that I never would have witnessed. So directing actors in a tender way without falling apart in the corner was definitely part of the challenge."

"The challenge was exacerbated by another she set herself: to make it as authentic as possible. Overhead boom mics were banned and crew banished once the cameras were rolling, the easier for the actors to avoid distraction. That certainly made it all come flooding back. It felt very present. Even just the shape of the hospital room; the noises oh God, that beep. When you've been through it, it does get you. That sense of monotony. The corridors."

Sally Bridges-Winslet died of cancer in 2017 at age 71, prompting close family unity during her final months. Joe, her eldest son, later adapted the family's experience into a screenplay completed in 2023. Kate Winslet directed and starred in Goodbye June, casting Helen Mirren as June and Timothy Spall, Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough and Johnny Flynn as family members. Winslet pursued strict authenticity by banning overhead boom mics and limiting crew during takes, which resurfaced intense personal memories and made directing emotionally challenging. The film recreates hospital sensory details and the monotony of corridors and clinical noises.

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