{"id":318414,"date":"2025-12-16T04:28:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T04:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/318414\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T04:28:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T04:28:29","slug":"kate-winslet-hollywood-authentic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/318414\/","title":{"rendered":"KATE WINSLET – Hollywood Authentic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE\u00a0CROWTHER<\/p>\n

As she prepares to release her directorial debut, Goodbye June, Kate Winslet returns to her creative and family roots in Reading with Greg Williams and takes a trip down memory\u00a0lane.<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

Kate Winslet is studying the information board of the number 17 bus in Reading town centre on an autumnal October morning. She smiles and turns to me. \u2018It says here: \u201cYour bus fare could take you anywhere.\u201d That\u2019s actually incredibly moving, because it was things like bus fares and saving for train fares that did take me to London for auditions. It took me to the delicatessen to earn the money to pay for the train fares to go to auditions, where I would then start getting jobs in London. I was always getting on one stop later, and off one stop earlier, to just save a bit off the bus fare. I would get the train from Reading to London a lot. I\u2019d run around with my little A to Z, running from audition to audition. You just hoped you\u2019re going to get a gig\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

Kate has been getting the gig for some years now. The Oscar-winning actor hasn\u2019t stopped working since landing her calling-card role as Juliet in Peter Jackson\u2019s Heavenly Creatures as a 17-year-old, which took her away from her hometown in the South of England to New Zealand \u2013 and beyond. Having played a diverse range of roles during a glittering career, Kate is now challenging herself in a different way: as director. As she turns a milestone birthday, she\u2019s putting the finishing touches to her directorial debut, Goodbye June, a heartfelt family comi-drama following spatting siblings as they come together to look after their ailing mother at Christmas time. Before we travelled to Reading for a trip down memory lane, I watched Kate finesse the sound mix of her film at Abbey Road Studios a few days earlier, where she has previously worked in a producer capacity on Lee and The Regime. Today we\u2019ve arrived in the Berkshire town for the actor\/director to revisit her childhood haunts and home, to process the progress she\u2019s made from being a little girl from humble beginnings who wanted to\u00a0perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While we stand at the bus stop, the purple number 17 appears as if on cue. \u2018It cost about 30p to get home and it stopped a little bit before our house\u2026\u2019 As we linger in town, she recalls getting her ears pierced in a local jewellers and reminisces about Butts shopping centre and the treats she coveted from there. \u2018They had a big sweet shop in there called Confetti. We weren\u2019t really allowed sweets, mainly because they were expensive. But I do remember on our birthdays, my mum would always include a big bag of pick \u2018n\u2019 mix from Confetti.\u2019 The Winslets lived in Reading as an artistic family; dad Roger was a part-time actor who worked a variety of jobs between roles, mum Sally was a part-time nanny. Kate grew up one of four siblings with an older sister, Anna, a younger sister, Beth, and a younger brother, Joss. The children were part of an amateur dramatic company who regularly performed at the town\u2019s Hexagon Theatre, a Brutalist behemoth on the ring road. While there, Kate auditioned for TV and film roles and, as a teen, started to save money from the paying gigs she landed. \u2018I used to do a lot of children\u2019s voiceovers for foreign films because I had a very good ear for accents. So I would do Danish films into American, and things like that. I could just start saving, you know, for a\u00a0life.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

I was always getting on one stop later, and off one stop earlier, to just save a bit off the bus fare. I would get the train from Reading to London a lot. I\u2019d run around with my little A to Z, running from audition to\u00a0audition<\/p>\n

Her life now is all over the world as she travels for work. But as a teenager, Reading was her domain. \u2018I lived here until I was 17 years old, and I got my first movie. The Hexagon Theatre is the first place I ever went on stage, when I was 11 years old, in a production of Bugsy Malone.\u2019 As we drive over to the Hexagon to relive those days, Kate opens up about her family. \u2018You know, people often don\u2019t believe this about me\u2026 I speak very well, so it sounds like I would have been very well-educated, well-bred, from privilege, etcetera. And that\u2019s not the case at all. My parents had very, very, very little. The one thing that they did do for us, because it was free, was that they enrolled us in a fantastic theatre company [Starmaker] that was based here in Reading, which was so incredible and phenomenally diverse and inclusive, and took kids from about the age of eight right through to adults. It was our first proper introduction to what it means to be part of a functioning creative community, when you put on a show, and create a piece of art in any way that involves multiple\u00a0people.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

We arrive at the theatre and I ask what being part of a creative community felt like to that little girl. \u2018You all had to listen and muck in \u2013 and also concentrate. We had a lot of dance routines and tons of dialogue we had to learn, and you all had to look out for each other, and take it in turns to get the parts. I never actually did get very massive parts with that theatre company, but it didn\u2019t matter, because they made everyone feel equally as important. It was one of the best things I think our parents did for us, because it meant that our life didn\u2019t revolve around school, and the minutiae of school playground politics. I didn\u2019t particularly like school and I don\u2019t think I really thrived there. But it was here that I really did thrive. My mum and dad probably did feel terrible guilt that they couldn\u2019t pay for things like piano lessons or a proper dance school or acting school \u2013 but what they could do was give us these experiences of community, and being part of something that meant that our self-esteem as people was always pretty well-rounded, you\u00a0know?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

She pauses. \u2018It\u2019s so much harder for kids now with social media and people constantly comparing themselves to one another, and wanting to be liked, and falling apart if they\u2019re disliked. It\u2019s so insane. It\u2019s an invented form of how one\u2019s natural self-esteem should grow, when in actual fact it\u2019s just being part of life and communicating with others that often gives you the best measure of who you\u2019re becoming within the world, and your place in the world, and figuring out who you want to be. We were just so lucky that we had that. Thank God mobile phones didn\u2019t exist.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

When we arrive at the theatre we find the places she remembers: the stairwell where the bigger kids stole crafty smoking breaks or \u2018snogs\u2019, the massive red theatre sign out front and the front-of-house lobby inside (\u2018It smells the same!\u2019 she marvels). As we walk inside to explore, I ask if she feels that she draws from those formative experiences when working now? \u2018To me, I was learning how to act here. I was learning how to do all of it \u2013 the acting and the dancing and the singing, which is quite significant, because you learn to understand your body as something that you have to take care of. And also you learn its limits. There\u2019s things that you learn, and that also involves an enormous amount of trust. So the way in which I think I learned to listen and respect a space that had other people in it \u2013 that really did begin here. And actually directing now \u2013 I was acutely aware of my own capacity to pull everyone in. I\u2019ve always done that as an actor. But as a director, it\u2019s completely 100% the job to do that, to pull everyone in. And because the film that I made is about a family, I wanted the on-set experience to feel as close to that as possible, so that everyone was just doing it by\u00a0osmosis.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

You know, people often don\u2019t believe this about me\u2026 I speak very well, so it sounds like I would have been very well-educated, well-bred, from privilege, etcetera. And that\u2019s not the case at all. My parents had very, very, very little. The one thing that they did do for us, because it was free, was that they enrolled us in a fantastic theatre\u00a0company<\/p>\n

Written by Kate\u2019s son, Joe Anders, the film follows June (played by Helen Mirren), the matriarch of her family; mother to four disparate grown kids (Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Toni Collette and Johnny Flynn), grandmother to a number of kids and wife to Timothy Spall\u2019s befuddled pensioner. Battling terminal cancer in hospital, June approaches Christmas as her health declines, hoping to see her argumentative offspring united and to depart on her own terms. Kate worked as director to create a company feeling among the cast, something she can trace back to the years she spent here. \u2018Being part of experiences I had here for a formative time of my life \u2013 it definitely set me up in terms of reaching for community, time and time\u00a0again.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

We find the stage door and the memories come flooding back. \u2018On the first night, my mum and dad would always find a way to send flowers. That was just incredible \u2013 to be a child, and to be sent flowers by your parents. I remember seeing my mum\u2019s little handwriting on the card. I was never the star. I never got the main part. It never occurred to me, because that wasn\u2019t why I was doing it. I never sought out fame. I wasn\u2019t setting myself up mentally ever for fulfilling a big dream of becoming a famous actress. I just thought, \u201cWell, if I\u2019m lucky, I might get the odd episode of Casualty, and a bit of theatre, and voiceover work.\u201d And I thought, \u201cWell, that would be incredible if I could make a living that way.\u201d I didn\u2019t anticipate any of this to have happened to\u00a0me.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

Though she started out as an amateur performer at the Hexagon, Kate soon transferred that experience to drama school and beginning to get paid work. \u2018I got a part bursary, and my grandmother contributed something for the first year,\u2019 she says of affording a fee-paying school. \u2018Then I started to get this voiceover work and that went towards the fees. I was able to gradually actually pay for those school fees myself.\u2019 We head backstage where Kate recalls the way to stage left and right, the sound of tap shoes clattering along the corridors. She remembers the dressing rooms, the excitement, the noise, the nerves\u2026 \u2018It was nervous excitement. It wasn\u2019t a proper, real stage fright. I\u2019ve successfully avoided putting myself in a position where I would feel stage fright, because somehow as a grown-up I haven\u2019t done any theatre. The last play I did was when I was 18 years old, and I did a production of What the Butler Saw at The Royal Exchange in Manchester. And it was amazing. But I was\u00a0terrified.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

To me, I was learning how to act here. I was learning how to do all of it \u2013 the acting and the dancing and the singing, which is quite significant, because you learn to understand your body as something that you have to take care\u00a0of<\/p>\n

It seems strange to hear an actor who has achieved so much on film and in TV admit to such a thing. She laughs. \u2018As an actor, most of the prep time is really spent just shitting yourself, procrastinating\u2026 If I\u2019m getting ready for a film, I\u2019ll wake up at half-three in the morning, and think, \u201cOh, well, I\u2019m awake now. I might as well get up and panic a bit more.\u201d I\u2019m then pacing the floor, learning lines in the dark, or figuring out character stuff. And that experience of preparation for a film can often be a little bit destructive because there is so much panic that goes on. And then when you start, it\u2019s all fine. You\u2019re in it. And with Goodbye June, I didn\u2019t have time to think about nerves. And we had a good rehearsal period that was very concentrated because I know what a nightmare it is as an actor to be on a roll in rehearsal, and suddenly be pulled away for dialect coaching, or for fight practice\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Her directorial debut seems to have been a way to put right some of the pet peeves she might have had in front of the camera. \u2018I was able to do a lot of things that I\u2019d had on my private wish list,\u2019 she nods. \u2018As an actress I\u2019d thought to myself, \u201cOne day, if I ever direct, I really would love to not have booms on poles. I would really love to have locked-off cameras, and the crew just walk away, so the actors can just be in that space together.\u201d And I was able to do that on Goodbye June. It was also really important that we created a really respectful, calm, mindful, inclusive on-set environment. We had a child actor on set with special needs and a child who was neurodivergent, so it mattered that everyone felt safe and supported \u2013 because it\u2019s not something that often gets given as much consideration. I did feel that having experienced really beneficial working environments \u2013 and some less beneficial ones \u2013 during a 33-year career, I was able to implement my own dream environment as an actor and provide it for the other\u00a0actors.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

With its messy family dynamics and dialogue, audiences will no doubt recognise many aspects of family life in Kate\u2019s film. \u2018I think some of our most complicated relationships in life are with the people that we love the most of all in the whole wide world. And to be able to create that, I knew that I would have to provide an environment in which everybody felt not just safe and heard \u2013 but sometimes held, because every one of our cast members had experienced loss in some way, either of a parent or of a very close family member or past love. Sharing those stories was hard for them. But when you do something like Goodbye June, which is about family and loss in equal measure, you know as an actor that you are going to have to talk about the hard stuff that you try to leave behind. This was a space that all of that had to be\u00a0included.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

Inspired by Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, Kate worked closely with her cinematographer, Alwin K\u00fcchler, to capture the mechanics of a family as they rowed and reconciled. She relished the edit, the sound mix, the whole creative process. \u2018I loved it all. I absolutely want to do more. You know, I\u2019ve worked with some incredible directors and I\u2019ve also worked with some directors who were maybe less comfortable working with actors, more visual directors. And so there are certainly things that I have learned myself were absolutely areas to avoid with actors. Sometimes I\u2019ve hung on to things I know I wouldn\u2019t say to an actor, because those things were just either unnerving to me or simply not helpful. But I had huge support from Francis Lee who reminded me to trust myself. Todd Field and Todd Haynes were also brilliantly supportive and encouraging, and Jocelyn Moorhouse, who pointed out certain things that she felt I could lean into within my own integrity as a\u00a0creative.\u2019<\/p>\n

Part of helming a project was setting the tone for the 35-day shoot \u2013 one that she admits crew members were uncharacteristically reluctant to leave by the end of a filming experience she describes as \u2018warm\u2019. \u2018How I am in my life is a big smile on your face and lots of good, positive energy. And I\u2019ve always been like that as an actor because when you\u2019re number one on the call sheet, that comes with a responsibility, your energy is 100% setting the tone. So if you\u2019ve had an argument with somebody at home or a colleague has upset you or something\u2019s not gone according to plan, you have to leave that at the door. You can change the course of the entire day and often you can make things fantastic if you just decide that you\u2019re going to put that energy into it. And so as the director, I was doing that tenfold. I definitely learnt that as a director, you just wear the stress on the\u00a0inside!\u2019<\/p>\n

We make our way out to the stage, where Kate is astonished anew at the size of the venue, the number of seats looking back at her. \u2018When you\u2019re a little kid, this is huge!\u2019 As she stands looking out to the stalls I wonder if she\u2019d like to do theatre now. \u2018I\u2019ve several times come very, very close, and then timing hasn\u2019t worked. And I think part of the reason why I still haven\u2019t really done theatre is because I had a child when I was really young. I had Mia [Threapleton] when I was 25. Theatre is actually quite impractical when you\u2019re a parent, because it\u2019s evenings and all of your weekend. Whereas at least with filming hours, even though the hours are much longer, you\u2019re not really working on the weekends, and usually you can get back in time to put the kids to bed. So that makes a big\u00a0difference.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

As she turns back to the stage she remembers her tap choreography from one of her childhood shows, muscle memory kicking in. She tap dances with a grin on her face\u2026 When we leave the stage, we find a souvenir programme from a production of Annie that Kate starred in as Miss Hannigan. She turns the pages reverentially, finding a photo of herself at 15. \u2018In the production of Annie that my sister Anna was in five years previously, in that production was a young Christian Bale who was also in this theatre company. He was an extraordinary tap dancer, he danced on the top of a stack of rotating suitcases.\u2019 She relates a story of a castmate who talked of disliking her body because of how it was perceived by the boys in the company. She shakes her head. In her career she\u2019s been subject to media dissection of her own body. \u2018Sometimes I think so much has changed, and sometimes I think absolutely nothing has changed at all. It\u2019s a constant thing, isn\u2019t it?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Real life vs dramatic life is something I want to ask her about. Her family make-up is similar to the one at the centre of Goodbye June. She\u2019s one of four, and like Spall\u2019s disabled dad, Kate\u2019s father suffered a terrible accident when his foot was severed at the ankle by a boat rope. \u2018His foot was put back on in a massive 18-hour operation during which he nearly died twice. So we grew up with our whole universe quite altered from that time, because life was already quite challenging in terms of financial resources and just trying to get by. And then things got a whole lot harder when Dad became disabled.\u2019 There\u2019s also a family link in that the screenplay is written by her son, Joe. \u2018Joe got a place in screenwriting school after he finished his A levels. When he left school, he really struggled just to declare the fact that he did think he would like to go into the film industry. I did feel that very strongly, and I think there was a part of him that was almost resisting it being true. Perhaps like me, he would never want to do anything unless he felt he could really do it, or make a meaningful contribution to anything. So he got a place at screenwriting school, and he was encouraged by a fantastic writing tutor: \u201cWrite what you know, Joe.\u201d The most significant thing that had happened in his life was the loss of his grandmother, my mum, and when she died, he was 13-and-a-half. We really all came together as a family, and gave her this passing that not only she deserved but would have wanted. He was struck by how for so few people that is ever the case, whether it\u2019s just sheer geographics; whether it\u2019s that death can creep up and take you by surprise; or for other more complicated family reasons. So he created a story that was predominantly about a family coming together as they were adjusting to the impending loss of the matriarch. The framework is very similar to my own family: sisters, a brother, a mum and dad who have been married forever. My parents were married forever until my mum passed away. And that was the\u00a0backdrop.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kate was originally going to produce the film, and play the character of organising daughter, Julia (because she wanted to play the sister who was least like herself) but as she discussed who should direct she felt she couldn\u2019t give the feature away to anyone else. That was when she realised she wanted to direct. \u2018As an actor, it matters to me to tell stories that not just hopefully resonate with people, but that do make them feel that their stories do have a place to be told. I hope that if I do go on, and continue to be a director\u00a0 that I continue in that vein of making sure that people are given a platform to have a voice, and getting those stories told. Because, so often, that doesn\u2019t necessarily happen.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

When you do something like Goodbye June, which is about family and loss in equal measure, you know as an actor that you are going to have to talk about the hard stuff that you try to leave behind. This was a space that all of that had to be\u00a0included<\/p>\n

We decide to head out to the deli where Kate worked as a teenager, and jump in the car for the short journey. \u2018It was where I was working when I received the phone call to tell me I had been cast in Heavenly Creatures, and that was the film that really did start my whole career. It\u2019s crazy \u2013 33 years ago,\u2019 she tells me as she drives. After she filmed the movie she went straight back to work, just as her dad always did. \u2018Well, yeah, because that\u2019s what the life of an actor is. That\u2019s also what I\u2019d grown up seeing. Even though there were lots of actors in my family, they were completely impoverished. It\u2019s actually typically very hard to make a living \u2013 still, today \u2013 as an actor. You always have to have a fallback plan. So I just went straight back to work, thinking, \u201cWell, I\u2019ll do this, then, until the next audition comes in\u2026\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

The next auditions came; she worked on Sense and Sensibility and Jude (\u2018So at that point, I was then able to make a living from acting\u2019) and then Titanic came along. She stands outside the former deli, now a Vietnamese pho restaurant, and thinks about her past when a local woman called Maureen approaches to ask what we are doing. When she asks Kate what she does as a job, Kate replies, \u2018I do films.\u2019 She chats to Maureen and some other wellwishers that ask for photos and talks about her roles. They are delighted when she poses for pictures and tells them how pleased she is to meet them. When we leave to drive on to her old family home, Kate tells me how much she appreciates such interactions. \u2018In the early parts of my career, the mainstream media in this country was really, really not very pleasant about me. So I learned quite a long time ago how to not care what people think. But it\u2019s very different to caring about what people feel. And I do care about what people feel. How I make people feel is very\u00a0important.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

I learned quite a long time ago how to not care what people think. But it\u2019s very different to caring about what people feel. And I do care about what people feel. How I make people feel is very\u00a0important<\/p>\n

Learning is also important to her. \u2018I\u2019ve always said this: you can never stop learning as an actor. If you decide you know everything, you are fucked, because it means that you\u2019ll stop listening, and you won\u2019t pay attention \u2013 not just to what other actors say, but what they might bring into a room that could genuinely have an impact on the performance you\u2019re about to give that you may have thought was going to come out of you in a certain way. Going into directing, I genuinely did feel solid in terms of what to do with a group of actors, and how to put a story together. But of course there were going to be things that I had never done before, you know? The wealth of information and knowledge that I was able to gain from working with these brilliant people [on Goodbye June] \u2013 it was just incredible. I never want to not do it. It\u2019s the most intense, consistent period of absolutely working with no break. I started work on the film on the 3rd of January, and I\u2019ve only just started to draw breath now in October. In theory, I should be exhausted, but I\u2019m not at all. I feel completely empowered and uplifted by the work, because I was just so challenged by it, and felt really enriched by the whole experience, moment to\u00a0moment.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

As we approach her childhood home on Oxford Road and park up, she tells me that she ensured that experience was paid forward. \u2018I had a lot of first-time people on this film. If I was a first-time director and my son was a first-time writer\u2026 so I was able to give an opportunity to a first-time composer, a first-time set designer, a first-time costume-designer. These were just wonderful things to be able to do for people.\u2019 I wonder if it\u2019s different putting a project out into the world as a director, rather than an actor. \u2018I am nervous about this, actually,\u2019 she admits. \u2018But one thing that I have strategically done throughout my career to help me stay grounded and level headed is I don\u2019t read reviews ever. Even if it\u2019s a good one I still won\u2019t read it, because that will stay with me and that doesn\u2019t really help. Of course, we hope that people will watch it, take something from it, be moved by it and hopefully even uplifted by it, because that is what we intend. But I think if I am to try to answer your question, I think it is going to be a bit harder for me to avoid what people think of the\u00a0film.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

We stand outside the small terraced house where Kate grew up. The house is much run down since Kate lived there as a child, with newspaper instead of curtains and a boarded-up door. It\u2019s not clear if the house is inhabited. \u2018I\u2019m fascinated by how similar it is here, but I do feel sad about the house, it\u2019s a shame that it doesn\u2019t look like a home anymore. When we lived here, we were never sad. We were really happy, had a really lovely life. We used to swing on this gate, I remember the sound of the letterbox\u2026\u2019 A passing pedestrian calls out \u2018Are you famous?\u2019 and Kate smiles. \u2018Well, I could be,\u2019 she laughs. The woman can\u2019t place her til they discuss The Holiday. When she walks away with a selfie, Kate shrugs. \u2018See, this happens. She knows I\u2019m famous, but she doesn\u2019t know who I am. But that\u2019s how I\u2019ve survived!\u2019 She tells me she still uses public transport and for the most part moves around without being\u00a0bothered.<\/p>\n

We scoot around the back of the terrace of houses to the alleyway that runs along behind them. \u2018I haven\u2019t been down this alleyway since I was 15 years old,\u2019 Kate exclaims and remembers riding her bike down the narrow path. \u2018You\u2019d grate your knuckles down the sides.\u2019 We peer into gardens looking for her dad\u2019s shed and her mum\u2019s blackcurrant bush. She yelps when she finds it, and the remnants of her mum\u2019s gardening and paving. \u2018We felt really lucky with what we had. We had a home, this nice garden, and we had our rabbit, and our grandmother didn\u2019t live too far away\u2026 We were very cramped, and the walls were paper thin, but we were really happy. And not many kids can say that. I do think what my upbringing really did give to me is a sense of perspective on what\u2019s important. And I\u2019ve never, ever, ever lost that perspective. You know, family, gratitude, a shared meal, a shared experience, that sense of community and team spirit. We grew up just getting on with it and making the best of everything. And I still have that same attitude now in an industry in which people can slightly lose their way or lose a sense of priority, and also believe all the \u201cyes\u201d people around them. I\u2019m deeply distrustful of people who say \u201cyes\u201d to me all the time! So, yeah, it\u2019s taught me to be very good at seeing right through all the bullshit!\u2019 She pauses for a moment and looks emotional as she peers over the back\u00a0fence.<\/p>\n

\"Goodbye<\/p>\n

We leave the house and garden behind and as we return to the car I ask how she feels now about returning home to where it all started for her. \u2018Reading served me well. But I will say this: I always knew I was just not meant for here. I was meant to be going off, and finding my way somewhere else. I felt that very strongly.\u2019 We pass the number 17 bus stop on the road and she grins. Her bus fare really did take her everywhere\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMSAs told to JANE\u00a0CROWTHER As she prepares to release her directorial debut, Goodbye…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-318414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}