Kate Winslet says she tried to remove herself from the cast of Goodbye June once she realized the project had turned into a three-hat assignment: director, producer, and star. Speaking to Digital Spy while promoting the Netflix holiday drama, Winslet said she “desperately tried” to recast herself and even put together a short list of actors she believed could handle the role. She ended up staying in front of the camera after the ensemble came together and, she said, Netflix was not interested in swapping her out.
Winslet’s comments land as Goodbye June heads into its streaming release on Dec. 24, following a limited theatrical rollout earlier this month. The film marks her feature directing debut and stems from a screenplay by her son, Joe Anders, who began writing it as a teenager during a screenwriting program. Winslet has described reading the script and deciding she could not hand it off to another filmmaker, choosing instead to direct it herself.
Set around Christmas, Goodbye June follows adult siblings pulled back together as their mother, June, is hospitalized. The cast includes Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Timothy Spall, and Winslet. At the London premiere earlier this month, Winslet said she wanted the story to feel “authentic and real,” and she placed it within Britain’s National Health Service to spotlight palliative care workers she called “massively undervalued.” Collette described the film as a look at family “mess” and “beauty” colliding in the same room.
The push to direct also came with practical pressure. On the Kermode & Mayo’s Take podcast, Winslet argued that women stepping into directing roles face different assumptions, and she said the film’s tight budget meant some department heads and crew worked for less than their standard weekly rate because they wanted to support the project.
