Kate Winslet Once Convinced Evan Rachel Wood to Do Her First Nude Scene
Kate Winslet once gave words of advice to young actor Evan Rachel Wood about being nude in front of the camera. The veteran actor’s wisdom helped Wood triumph over a scene she briefly considered walking away from.
Evan Rachel Wood and Kate Winslet starred in ‘Mildred Pierce’
Wood and Winslet first collaborated on the hit television show Mildred Pierce. The HBO mini-series followed Winslet’s character trying to make a good life for herself and her two daughters in the Great Depression era. Wood portrayed one of Winslet’s daughters, Veda Pierce, in the hit show. For Wood, working alongside the Emmy-winner was a learning experience from the beginning. In a 2011 interview with Collider, Wood had nothing but kind words for a co-star she was already a fan of.
“Kate is my absolute favorite actress, hands down. It was just brilliant, watching her work, every single day. She was so in charge of that set and so professional, especially with everything she had on her plate. I never saw her break or collapse. She is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met or been around at all,” Wood said.
Evan Rachel Wood was persuaded by Kate Winslet to do her first nude scene
Winslet already had much experience going nude for certain projects. But at the time, Wood wasn’t anywhere near as accustomed to the idea as Winslet was. Mildred Pierce would eventually include a scene requiring Wood to fully disrobe herself in front of the camera. Wood’s first instinct was to reject the request entirely. But Winslet was able to help Wood through the vulnerable take.
“I had to appear completely nude and I was going to chicken out, but she really put the scene and that moment into perspective and she was right,” Wood once said according to Contact Music. “I’m so glad I did it. She was waiting with a drink for me afterwards. A toast to my first full frontal. Not that I’m in a hurry to do it again.”
The moment only made Wood even more of a fan of Winslet than she already was.
“Kate is one of the strongest, bravest women I’ve met. She’s so confident and is so comfortable with her body; which makes her so beautiful,” she said.
How Kate Winslet convinced Evan Rachel Wood to do her first nude scene
Winslet has been very vocal about why she’s been receptive to nude scenes in her long career. She once confided that having a narrative purpose behind her nude scenes was often what convinced Winslet to disrobe.
“I think I’ve been lucky every time I’ve been asked to do any kind of nudity on screen. Any type of a love scene, I’ve been lucky because I’ve always believed in the scene. I’ve always absolutely felt, ‘Yep, that’s right. That should be there.’ And if I haven’t, if I felt there was something a little bit much, or we haven’t really needed it, I’ve always felt comfortable to say to the director, ‘Y’know what, this is maybe pushing it a little far,'” she once told The New York Times.
She shared her beliefs with Wood in Mildred Pierce, which ultimately convinced the young actor to go full frontal.
“By shying away from the scene, she was depriving herself of this great opportunity to be empowered by that moment,” Winslet recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “So I said to Evan, ‘You know what, here’s the thing. People are going to be talking about this scene for years, and you’re gonna be in it. And you’re gonna look back in years to come and feel so happy that you did it.'”
