The Oscar winner also stars in the movie alongside Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough, Toni Collette, Timothy Spall, and Johnny Flynn.

Kate Winslet shares how her son’s school writing assignment became her ‘completely nuts’ directorial debut, Goodbye June

The Oscar winner also stars in the movie alongside Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough, Toni Collette, Timothy Spall, and Johnny Flynn.

By Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall is an editorial director at **, overseeing movie, awards, and music coverage. He is also host of *The Awardist* podcast, and has cohosted EW's live Oscars, Emmys, SAG, and Grammys red carpet shows. He has appeared on *Good Morning America*, *The Talk*, *Access Hollywood*, *Extra!*, and other talk shows, delivering the latest news on pop culture and entertainment.

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on December 24, 2025 4:55 p.m. ET

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Kate Winslet directing on the set of 'Goodbye June'. Credit:

Kimberley French / Netflix

Kate Winslet knows you may cry by the end of her new movie, *Goodbye June*, but she promises that wasn't her intent.

"The goal was to make a story that felt so real that people might hopefully be able to see something of themselves in these characters," she tells *,* "and to tell a story that is about loss, yes, but is actually much more about a family and much more about life and living and how precious it all is.

In addition to starring in the movie (now streaming on Netflix), Winslet also makes her directorial debut with *Goodbye June*, from a screenplay written by her now 22-year-old son with Sam Mendes, Joe Anders. It centers on four siblings who rush to their mother's (Helen Mirren) side in the hospital to discover her cancer has returned. This time, it's a terminal diagnosis, and she probably won't make it to Christmas, which is just two weeks away.

Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Kate Winslet, and Timothy Spall in 'Goodbye June'.

Tensions quickly boil between sisters Julia (Winslet) and Molly (Andrea Riseborough), who couldn't be more different: Julia is a successful professional whose husband is often away at work, leaving her to raise their three children, one of whom has special needs, solo; Molly is bit of an overprotective stay-at-home mom — only organic, no cow dairy for her kids — who nags at her husband, is in a financial bind, is easily agitated, and thinks she should be in charge of making decisions for their mom.

Then there's the free-spirited Helen (Toni Collette), who's pregnant with her first child in her 40s, who lives overseas, and teaches holistic dance; and Connor (Johnny Flynn) is the sweet one of the bunch, who hasn't quite gotten his life together and still lives at home, helping take care of June and their dad, Bernie (Timothy Spall), who distracts himself with football games and going to the local pub instead of focusing on June's illness.

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Below, Winslet tells EW about reading her son's script and telling him she'll produce it and star, then deciding she would direct it, and her third time working with Riseborough and their characters' tense relationship.

Joe Anders and Kate Winslet at a BAFTA screening of 'Goodbye June' on Dec. 5, 2025 in London.

Kate Green/Getty

**: Did you know Joe was working on a script, or did he quietly do this and one day, was like, "Hey, mom, would you, uh, mind reading this fully written screenplay I've done?"**

**KATE WINSLET: **Well, that last part is absolutely true, that he did come to me and say, "I've written this fully constructed screenplay." He wrote a short film and he had applied for a screenwriting course at the National Film and Television School, and he was given a place — it's apparently, and I did not know this at the time, a heavily coveted course; it's like the course that people want to get on, and my little Joe, there he was — and it was an intensive six-month course. And at the end of it, he said to me, "I have written this thing, it's probably not very good, but will you read it? Could you, would you just read it? Just don't be too mean about it because..." and I'm like, "Oh my God." So he gives me the script, and I turned to him, and I said, "Well, you've written a screenplay, and we are gonna make this into a film." And of course, he's like, "What are you talking about?" [*Laughs*]

Right. And I'm like, "Well, no, we are, because it's really good. So I'll produce it, and we'll get incredible actors, and I'll play one of the sisters." He's like, "Mom, stop. No, stop. What are you doing? It's just an assignment. I was doing it to see if I could even write something." So the fact that we've actually made the film and that he's also giving interviews and coming to Q&As and talking about it, he literally keeps saying, "I still can't believe any of this." It was very sweet, but it was a very impressive screenplay. It was just so real straight away. It was so real and relatable.

**Well, you said that you'd play one of the sisters and produce it, but you didn't say you'd direct it. When did that part of it happen? Had you been looking for something?**

No, no. I hadn't been looking for something. No. It was about a year after he had written the first draft, and he'd worked on it some more, and he'd gotten it really tight — and he'd also gotten really good at taking notes and feedback from me, for example — and it was in really great shape, and we were ready to go out to directors, and we had a list. It was like, okay, let's go.

**And he just so happens to have one in the family...dad. **

Oh, yeah. No. [*Laughs*] That wasn't...Sam's a very busy person. But I just realized I didn't wanna let it go. Actually, I think the first person I said it to was Andrea. I was having a conversation with her, she was already gonna be playing Molly, and I called her and said, "I think I wanna direct." And she was like, "Of course you should!" That was like, "Oh, yeah, of course you should," straight away, supportive, positive — but that's Andrea, that's really who she is. So Joe and I talked about it, and he totally understood how I was going to be able to make it an experience that he could remain a part of, and that was what I wanted more than anything. He also knew that I was gonna be able to actually put it together. I was like, "If we do this, I'm telling you, tomorrow I'm on the phone. I know exactly the DP I'm calling, I know exactly like the line producer I'm calling." I know all these people after 35 years, and also having been producing for a long time, where that becomes much more a part of the job as well in terms of finding crew, etcetera. I was just like, "We can just go. Let's just run at it. Don't think, go!" [*Laughs*]

Kate Winslet, in director mode, and Timothy Spall on the set of 'Goodbye June'.

Kimberley French / Netflix

**George Clooney says he does not particularly like directing himself because it breaks one of those cardinal rules of acting, that actors shouldn't give notes to other actors, but obviously, in this case, the actor is also the director. But it's still kind of weird. Did you find any of it weird or difficult?**

No. And actually not giving notes to other actors, that's very different to having a collaborative relationship with another actor where you can go to them and say, "What did you think? Tell me anything. Is there anything I should do differently?" And I've always had that, actually; I've always been very fortunate to create on-set working relationships with actors where you all look out for each other, or you can say, "That was really good, do that one again," or "do that one again and a bit of the one that you did before." I've always really enjoyed that.

It was definitely a juggle because when you say directing yourself, you're not really directing yourself at all. You're just thinking quickly, "Okay, what other options can I try? How can I make sure I get into the edit and I've got lots and lots of things to choose from?" So for me, it was really about that and just being ready with my options, really super prepared. I learned the whole film like a play beforehand 'cause the one thing I knew I wasn't gonna literally have the time to do was actually sit down and be learning lines for those huge scenes.

And then, quite honestly, I would rely on Joe. If Joe was there, which he was for the seven weeks I had to shoot it — and I had Helen Mirren for 16 days — I love how you just went [*makes a cringe face*] and you made a face there; yeah, it was like that. First-time director, seven weeks, and seven children; it was completely nuts. I didn't sit down the whole entire time; it was ridiculous. But I did absolutely love it. And in moments when I felt like s---, "I don't know what that was like, oh my God, I have no idea," I would go to Joe, and I'd be like, "Tell me anything. Was that s---?" And he'd be like, "Ehhhhh...kind of prefer the one before." Because your family will tell you the truth. And I'd be like, "Tell me anything I should try." And he'd say, "Do you remember when we were first rehearsing this, and you had this idea about..." And I'd be like, "Oh! I forgot about that. I'll try that!" [*Laughs*] So, it was great.

Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall, Kate Winslet, and Fisayo Akinade in 'Goodbye June'.

Kimberley French/Netflix

**On the acting side of things, Julia and this fraught relationship with Molly — what was it about the dynamic and what you got to do with Andrea that you loved so much?**

I think the trust that she and I have. The last three things that I have done (*Goodbye June*, *The Regime*, *Lee*) have all been with Andrea. She's such a creature. She's so wonderful. She's so unusual and extraordinary. And I swear to God, in every performance she gives, she does things with her face that are different every time. And I think I just knew that we would be able to find things that felt really real and very present. She's worked with incredible directors over the years, as have I, and I think we've both been really fortunate to have been truly encouraged to explore characters that we've played and to come forward with our own ideas and really make them our own. And so supporting her in all the choices she was making was such a privilege, quite honestly. Every single thing she does is so unbelievable that, like, more fool me if I didn't catch it, you know?

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***

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