Shadowing Practice: Emotional interview With Kate Winslet 💙 | Goodbye June - Learn English Speaking with Video

You've written everybody's story, so everybody's going to see...

You can do it, Gabby.

Kate, it's always so lovely to see you.

You too.

I don't know how I'm going to talk about this film, though.

It's Mike Lee.

It's you, though.

This is very you.

You directed it, produced it, you star in it, your son wrote it.

But it feels so real

and I think as well it feels very true of England it feels very British

and I think Helen Mirren playing the title role of June

you know for me she's almost the backbone of Britain in

so many ways and I think we all admire her

and look up to her and she's such a constant

and she's so stoic and brilliant and

when she said yes to playing this part I actually couldn't believe it

because I'd had a telephone conversation with her

and explained what the story was about

and she said ah now i do need to stop you

she said i do have two personal rules i i i don't ever want to play someone with dementia

and i don't want to play somebody who has cancer

and i said okay that's fine i totally understand don't you worry

and she said um but send it to me anyway

and i thought oh blimey and she read the script

and a week later she said i am going to break my rule i would love to support you

and i was just so moved by that decision

that she had taken because it was very hard for her very emotional for all of us

but i think knowing

that she was going to be surrounded by this incredible ensemble

cast of people who all said yes i mean gabby we couldn't believe tim spall

tony collette andrea riseborough johnny flynn said yes they were like our wish list of people

unbelievable team and and you know the the the sense of humor

that they all brought to it and the joy

and the sort of intention of good grace with

which we really tried to put this film together

and make every day feel like a joy and a celebration

because it isn't a film about cancer

or a film about a woman who dies it's a story about a very real complex messy family

and it's set at christmas time big family june my gorgeous daughters

so lovely they can all be here for you this is

the most real christmas film i've ever seen it's not all science fiction

or an elf coming out of the north pole well you know what i mean it's

or it's not a rom-com this is christmas

that all of us will know somebody in

that film i i think i actually think

that everybody in the film it's their their greatest performances i

really really do it's quite outstanding oh that's such a lovely

thing to say thank you children in it yes how did you get babies

that they've none are you all related really actually you

and andrea really sisters in real life well i feel like i do feel like andrea riseborough

and i are sisters in real life she does feel like

that to me

because i've actually just worked with her three times in a row we did lee together

and then a show called the regime for hbo

and then went almost straight into goodbye june

so she she holds an extremely special place in my heart

and playing against her opposite her as these two sisters who haven't spoken for several years

and suddenly have to come together at christmas

because they are about to have to process the impending loss of the matriarch you know playing out

that tension and um distance between the two of them um was was really really challenging

and for me as the person directing him

and i still can't quite believe that i was able to do

that and it wasn't the plan

that i was going to direct it wasn't planned no

so the film is written by my son joe who is now 21

and he started writing it when he was 19 years old

and he had gotten a place on a screenwriting course at the at the National Film

and Television School and the assignment across this intense six months was to write a screenplay.

And now Joe had always shown a real passion for writing and had always been very good at it at school, not just in homework style,

but plays, poetry, monologues, etc. So it didn't surprise me that that became a significant part of his own creativity,

but that doesn't necessarily translate to being able to actually write a script it's beautifully written

but he did it he did it

and he came to me at the end of the course

and said look i've written this thing and would you read it

and and uh and he just wanted some feedback from me as his mom

and i immediately said look i think this could be a film

and he was like what are you talking about that's not don't be ridiculous

and and i just encouraged him to finish it he still had about 20 pages to go

and once it was complete and he'd gone through various different drafts

and got very good at taking notes and feedback

and making changes along the way it felt so present in my life

because i'd seen him and worked alongside him going through

that process that i was going to produce it

and play one of the sisters but we were going to go out to directors

and i just couldn't do it i suddenly realized i i couldn't let it go

and i didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of

showing him how to assemble a great group of people to tell his story

and for him to be a part of seeing those characters

that he'd created come to life what you and he have done though is that you have

you've written everybody's story so everybody's gonna see

you can do it gabby yes you can uh my mum died only six weeks after christmas

and um so this this uh film is ring so true for and it will do for so many people

and the humor that's around it as well because there were some very funny times

when my mom was dying and everybody whenever you say that people always say how

yes well my mom was always teasing me apart from anything else well that's it you know

and and it mattered enormously that the matriarch was not this perfect person

and sometimes in films you know i think we often witness the kind of film version of a reality

and and i didn't want that I wanted it to feel real.

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I wanted for people to be able to see something of themselves in this story

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and perhaps get to a place where it might make audiences feel they can have some of those

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conversations that are uncomfortable to have and that typically, certainly in our culture, I think we really aren't good at talking about loss

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and you know you don't want to think about when

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that moment might come for you or for your own parents

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and in actual fact I think the way these characters these

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sort of messy siblings who are really kind of emotionally flatlining

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as they're coping with what's going on around them the way

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that the matriarch pulls them all together in order to make

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it okay for her to leave the world at peace it's it's it's extraordinary

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and actually it's a gift being part of this family do

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you all love your lover yes it's my biggest adventure how on earth did you cast those incredible children well

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so for me in anything in life children bring the joy

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even in the most tragic of situations children still bring the joy

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because they can see that grown-ups faces might be sad

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but actually they're immediately distracted by the packet of crisps they've just been offered

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or you know the toy kitchen in the corner

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or hiding underneath the bed

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and doing sponge things yeah she used to keep her mouth moist yeah yeah um and and doing stickers.

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And I just knew that we needed to find children who were very natural

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and very comfortable in being around big groups of people

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and also just happy to join in and that was the environment

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that I tried to create was one that felt not only inclusive

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and diverse and respectful but fun particularly for those kids and

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so they honestly felt like they were on a 35-day playdate

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and I just turned it into a game they never knew

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when the cameras were rolling so we as adult actors would be acting a scene

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and the children would just fold into whatever we were doing

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and often I would establish props that I wanted them

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or knew that they would go and be interested in

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and quietly we would follow those children and film the conversations they would have

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and the way

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that it worked the best of all was the children called

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each other only ever in their character names they only introduced one another to each other in their character names.

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And I did that because I had two five-year-olds, one typically developing five-year-old and a five-year-old with Down syndrome.

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And our five-year-old with Down syndrome is the most beautiful little boy named Benjamin.

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And his character on the scripted page was called Benji.

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And so I thought, okay, so that's straightforward.

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But then if I'm making it straightforward for the others, I have to make it straightforward for him and for our other five-year-old, Tybalt, who I still call Tybalt,

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even though his name is actually Elias and

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so i said to the teenagers amongst our group listen don't

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you think it would be really a good idea just to make it easier for the little ones

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so they don't get confused if we just all use character names

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and they were like yeah so they did

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and what it meant was whenever they were in front of a camera

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and didn't know that we were rolling they were calling each other in the names

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that they knew so every single exchange was always going to be usable

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because they were calling each other in character you know you

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said you didn't know you were going to direct it

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and now you've directed it

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and it is outstanding film does this mean there's more everybody

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said we were all waiting for kate to start directing now you've started does

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that mean there's no stopping you please say yes i mean

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yes good i loved it i mean look i honestly i loved being able to

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inject some of the things

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that i myself as an actress have wished to have experienced i was able to implement those things and

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that was you know keeping the actual set itself really simple

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collaborating very closely with the crew being able to bring in crew who i've known for a long time

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and have formed great relationships with

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so good people you know it's a tricky industry the film industry

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and sometimes you do come across people who can be slightly challenging

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and i just didn't want for

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that to be the case i wanted it to feel like a joyful kind sensitive working environment

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that would mean something to those actors and to create an environment that perhaps

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made them feel slightly different you know when you've got people like helen mirren

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and tim spall you know veterans of our industry there was

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nothing i could have given to them by way of actual direction

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that would have been new or clever and i knew that it wouldn't have been

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you know meaningful to have tried to do that

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but i did know that i could create a space for them

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that might have felt different might have made them feel slightly uh calmer more intimate quieter

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and so often i was able to lock off cameras in a fixed position

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and have absolutely everybody all our crew myself included walk out of the room close the door

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and just leave the actors performing a scene with nobody there

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and it made a difference and helen did notice that

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and she commented on it she said i don't think i've ever come across

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that before and so i was very happy for her

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that she was able to experience something different because

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when you're making a film that is with so many

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but it's largely set in one hospital room in the corridor immediately outside.

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You know, you do have to really rely on the performances from those actors to keep the momentum, to keep it going, you know,

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so that it never feels like you're watching the same thing.

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It never feels as though you're in a repetitive state emotionally.

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And also, as you mentioned before, that sense of brevity and the humour mattered enormously, not least because when you are facing something like a loss,

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odd, slightly humorous things do happen.

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And you do find yourself thinking, oh my God, why am I laughing?

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I'm supposed to be feeling sad.

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and actually that's also an important part of processing those conversations

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and being able to face the reality with some degree of togetherness

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and and being connected and

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and trying to remember to laugh through the moments where you can even though it's challenging

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and even though it's sad it's a really incredible film it's a it is a tough watch

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but it's also a beautiful watch and I think it's going to heal a lot of people as well.

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I think it's cathartic in some way and I think

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that it's a story as much about life as it is about loss

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and how a family are pulled closer together because of this one thing that they experience and because of that one woman,

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the matriarch, the mother.

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And I do find it very moving and I've been so close to it from beginning, middle, or period.

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And the story of your mother dying, you know, so it's all of it is all, and you put it out there for us all.

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It was almost impossible to detach, even though it's a fictional story and it's a fictional family.

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You know, my son, when he wrote it, he really remembered being a teenager when my own mum passed away

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and that we were all in that space because we all came from

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that one woman and we were all there for her.

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And so that became his emotional backdrop.

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and from there he created a fictional version of that story

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but it was yeah very hard for me to completely separate from what I had gone through myself

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and what my siblings had gone through as a family

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but in a way it almost stood me in good stead

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because visually I understood what the space needed to look like

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and feel like you know all of those things

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that you know you see and you feel in hospitals

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and also finding a way not to make it ever feel stark and lonely and cold

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because of the warmth of June and who she is as a person

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and also the warmth and love that is given by those phenomenal palliative care workers.

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I mean, they are such a gift to us all

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and it mattered enormously to honour that warmth in the way that the film looks and feels.

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And I never wanted it to finish.

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I absolutely loved making this film.

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Well, there will be more that you direct.

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I hope more that Jo will write as well.

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My word.

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Talking of writing, we always ask all of our guests to write a word in our book please okay um

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and it's going to go to charity so any word at all uh

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and if you could just sign your name underneath blue biro

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and the word is magnificent can i ask why you've chosen magnificent

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because because it's for children and to me children are magnificent

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and i really believe that

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when we look at our children we need to imagine them achieving their fullest potential in whatever form in life

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and that doesn't mean doing a big fancy job

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and achieving a level of success

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or notoriety it just means being magnificent inside who they are

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and how they feel about their place within the world amongst their friends and walking through life

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with magnificence at their core and i think it's perfectly possible of all children the world over Kate Winslet, thank you very much indeed Thank you

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Emotional interview With Kate Winslet 💙 | Goodbye June - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?