Kate Winslet turned location scout for her new movie Blackbird and helped director Roger Michell find the perfect home for the production.
The Notting Hill filmmaker's latest movie follows a family that reunites over a long weekend for a final hurrah before the terminally ill matriarch Lily, played by Susan Sarandon, intends to end her life with the help of her husband.
The majority of ensemble drama is set inside the parents' home on America's East Coast, however, the film was actually shot near Winslet's home in West Sussex, England, as she managed to convince the owners to rent their home out for the production.
"I started looking for locations all over England to find a good double for an American house, a house that might be on the eastern seaboard of the United States, and Kate kept saying, 'Oh, there's this place just around the corner from me, it's perfect, it's perfect,'" Michell recalled in an exclusive interview with Cover Media. "And I kept thinking, 'Oh yeah, of course, you're only saying that because you want to have a late start in the mornings and be able to have a lie-in.'"
However, when he visited the house, which is half a mile from Winslet's home, he realised that the Titanic star was absolutely right.
"The minute I walked into the house I could see that it could be almost like another character in the film, the aesthetic was so wonderful and it looked so American because it's made out of wood and glass and steel. I think it's actually designed by an American architect. So that's how that happened."
The Oscar-winning actress was the first to join the project as Lily's uptight eldest daughter Jennifer, and having her onboard made it easy for Michell to assemble his cast, which also includes Sam Neill, Rainn Wilson, and Mia Wasikowska.
"That's always a great way to start building an ensemble, if you can cast someone like Kate," he explained. "People want to work with Kate, people like Kate very much, and so I was astonished by how easy it was to cast everyone else."
Blackbird is on Digital Download now and on DVD from 28 September.
