Kate Winslet “Desperately Tried” To Get Out Of Starring In Her Directorial Debut ‘Goodbye June’

As Kate Winslet made her directorial debut with Goodbye Juneshe had to wear one too many hats for her comfort.

Written by her son Joe Anders, Winslet originally only planned to produce and star in the Christmas family drama, and when the prospect of helming the feature came up, the Oscar winner though she “cannot do three jobs” on one production.

“I know I’m good at multitasking, but this is too many things,” she told Digital Spy. “I desperately tried to recast myself [and] had a really good list of a handful of people who would have been absolutely brilliant in that role.”

Winslet added, “But at that point… well, first of all, Netflix were like, ‘Uh-uh’ and secondly, I’d cast all these incredible actors. How could I not go and play with them? Because that’s what we do. We play, we pretend and it’s an amazing thing.”

Now playing in select theaters, Goodbye June premieres Dec. 24 on Netflix, following four siblings (Winslet, Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough and Johnny Flynn) as their sick titular mother (Helen Mirren) takes a turn for the worse during the holidays.

Discussing her directorial debut recently with Deadline, Winslet told Baz Bamigboye, “I’m always very supportive of directors I work with, and that relationship has always meant a great deal to me. And I’m very respectful of it as well. But I think it will just make me, probably, just much more supportive really…”