2010 Mar 04

Kate Winslet has been preparing for her role as Mildred Pierce

Kate Winslet told me she has been getting her hands dirty as she prepares to play Mildred Pierce, based strictly on the James M. Cain novel rather than the Joan Crawford movie version.

‘When you first see Mildred, she’s working in a restaurant kitchen, baking chicken pies. Then she does this for herself and runs her own business. I’ve been plucking chickens and preparing them for the pies,’ the Oscar-winning actress told me at an Orange BAFTA party hosted by Lancôme and Harper’s Bazaar at the St. Martins Lane Hotel.

‘I love doing it!’ Kate told me as she demonstrated with her hands exactly what she did to those poor old chickens.

‘It was the Depression,’ Kate explained. ‘People had to live – and eat.’

Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood will also be in the drama, which Todd Haynes will direct for America’s HBO TV.

Before shooting (and baking) begins, Kate’s heading to LA for the Oscars on March 7, where she will be a major presenter.

Source: DailyMail.co.uk