Kate Winslet details ‘difficulty’ of working with daughter

I Am Ruth follows a mother and daughter’s strained relationship as they try to navigate the turmoil and pressures that come with growing up. As concerned mother Ruth (played by Kate Winslet) observes her teenage daughter Freya (Mia Threapleton) becoming overly consumed by social media, Ruth struggles to help a withdrawn Freya, who is silently suffering. 

The two-hour special is the latest instalment from the BAFTA-nominated all female led anthology series I Am and created by BAFTA winning filmmaker Dominic Savage.

Kate Winslet, who plays lead character Ruth, also co-authored the special alongside Dominic.

Offering an honest portrayal of a mother and daughter navigating an every-straining relationship, the story hopes to shine a light on the endemic mental health crisis affecting young people and the overwhelming impact social media has on them. 

While the story itself is fictitious, Kate has shared how working with her real life daughter helped draw parallels between their real life relationship and that of the characters they portrayed. 

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Mia, the 20-year-old daughter of Kate and ex-husband director John Threapleton began her acting career in 2018, but this is the first time the two have worked on a project together.

While the Titanic actress confirmed the story they portray on screen is complete fiction, she admitted that lines became “blurry” when it came to what was real and fake.

“One can’t help but draw on personal experience here and there,” she acknowledged.

But while Kate found their off-screen relationship to be “enormously helpful” when it came to working with Mia, she confessed that seeing Mia’s character “hurting” and “struggling” was difficult for her. 

“I knew I had to let her be exposed,” Kate added about watching Mia in the role explaining that she had to ignore her motherly “instincts” to take care of Mia on set.

Although there were difficult moments to work through, Kate said she was “blown away” by Mia’s “extraordinary” performance as Freya. 

Alongside this project, Mia’s credits also include the 2020 thriller Shadows as well as a new TV adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, currently airing on Lionsgate+.

Mia is the eldest daughter of Kate and John, who got married after meeting on the set of the 1998 drama Hideous Kinky, where Kate starred as the lead and John was assistant director.

The couple divorced in 2001, the year after Mia was born.