Oscar winning actress Kate Winslet is stepping behind the camera to make her directorial debut for Goodbye June, a screenplay written by her son Joe Anders.
Goodbye June stars Helen Mirren as June, the mother of a dysfunctional family forced to come together when she faces a health crisis just before Christmas. Blending humor with heart, the film explores what it really means to show up for family when it matters most.
The mother and son duo worked closely throughout the whole development process, and with Winslet’s previous experience working alongside some of cinema’s greatest such as James Cameron on Titanic and Avatar and Stephen Daldry on The Reader, it’s no doubt that she was the perfect director for the film.
In an interview with Deadline, the actress turned director joked saying, “Christ knows, I’ve been on enough film sets to know what works and what doesn’t… I’ve been around enough actors to, I think, have some degree of instinct about what’s helpful and what’s not.”
Winslet also shared that she and Anders put together a dream cast list, and every single actor they asked said yes. Alongside Winslet herself, the film features Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall, Andrea Riseborough, Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn, Stephen Merchant, Fisayo Akinade, Jeremy Swift, and Raza Jaffrey.
Though fictional, Anders drew inspiration from the family he grew up in, making the story all the more personal.
Goodbye June hits select U.S. and U.K. theaters on Dec. 12, before streaming on Netflix just in time for the holidays on Dec. 24.
More On:Movies