Winslet brings Neverland to Venice

Kate Winslet at the Venice Film Festival
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Kate Winslet brought some British glamour to the Venice Film Festival at the premiere of her new movie Finding Neverland.

The actress arrived with co-star Johnny Depp, who plays the lead role in the biopic of Peter Pan author JM Barrie.

And she was all smiles despite being kept waiting nearly three hours for her red carpet moment.

The festival was running so behind schedule that the premiere did not take place until 2am.

Winslet, 29, wore a pale green halterneck dress with gold embroidery by British designer Alice Temperley.

"A premiere at 2am, it's certainly unusual," she said. "But you have to be game for anything in this business."

Earlier, the actress told how motherhood has transformed her career.
Winslet said she is now able to play roles which would have been beyond her before the birth of her two children.

In Finding Neverland she plays Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, a mother whose young sons provided Barrie with the inspiration for Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

Barrie befriended the family and became the boys' guardian when Sylvia died.
Winslet said: "Playing a woman who is leaving her children behind, just the thought of that makes you want to cry.

"I don't think I could have played Sylvia if I wasn't a mother. There is something about the physicality of being a parent that you don't know about until you become one.

"I remember playing a mother before I became one myself and found it frustrating because I didn't really know what it felt like.

"Sylvia was a very hands-on mother and when you've got lots of kids to deal with you just bundle them onto your hip or into the stroller and get on with it. Being a mother myself was invaluable."

Winslet is mum to Mia, four, from her first marriage to Jim Threapleton, and nine-month-old Joe, by second husband Sam Mendes.

The actress said she loved Peter Pan as a child, and her daughter is also a fan.

"I remember when I was young, forcing my brother to try and fly with me off the edge of the couch. It was a regular thing that would go on. I was so convinced if we jumped high enough we could fly, and that was because of Peter Pan," she said.

"I now have to control a four-year-old daughter who is also convinced if she jumps high enough she can fly."

Winslet and Depp spent most of the press conference heaping praise on their 12-year-old British co-star, Freddie Highmore.

Freddie plays Peter Llewelyn Davies in the film and Winslet said: "Freddie Highmore is the best child actor I've seen in my life. It is quite magical what he can do and he isn't even aware of it." Depp said saying goodbye to Freddie at the end of the shoot was the most emotional part of filming.

"We weren't able to look each other in the eye because we just started welling up," he said.

"The last day of filming is always hard but especially something like this with little kids, your emotions are ricocheting all over the place."

Depp will be reunited with Freddie in his next film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The actor has been praised for his faultless Scottish accent in Finding Neverland.

"For me it was a great challenge. There is something so musical and rhythmical about the Scottish accent," he said.

"Initially I couldn't quite get a handle on it, but luckily I found a dialect coach who was from Scotland and she helped me a lot." The heart-throb star was asked if, like Peter Pan, he would like to stay young forever.

"Nowadays it's all a question of surgery, isn't it?" he joked.

The 41-year-old said it was important to retain a youthful outlook but added: "It's great fun growing old, you know."

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