Playing an illiterate Nazi SS guard in the midst of a romantic tryst with a younger man is complicated enough, but acting with an uncertain director made it all the more challenging for Kate Winslet. Despite ultimately winning the Best Actress Oscar for her role in “The Reader,” the “Titanic” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” actress admitted in a recent interview with Variety that making the film was a challenge. ​was a new kind of experience for her in terms of the open collaboration she shared with director Stephen Daldry.

“It was the first time I worked with a director who could be openly nervous and vulnerable,” Winslet said. ‘Stephen Daldry would say, ‘Why are you looking at me? I have no idea how you’re going to play it either. We do it together. ”

To Daldry’s credit, he knew Winslet was capable of handling himself.