Kate Winslet on I Am Ruth and how film explores teenage phone addiction: ‘Social media has always worried me’
In Kate Winslet’s new film, she stars as the mother of a teenage girl – played by her own daughter Mia Threapleton – who is struggling with issues related to what seems to be an addiction to her mobile phone.
I Am Ruth is part of Channel 4‘s I Am series – a female-led drama anthology of standalone programmes, developed and written by director Dominic Savage in collaboration with the leading actress in each film.
The subject matter of Winslet‘s is particularly prescient right now, with the controversial Online Safety Bill making headlines as it goes through parliament. It is aimed at protecting youngsters in the wake of the deaths of teenagers including Molly Russell, who died after viewing suicide and self-harm content in 2017.
Pic: Channel 4
Like all parents, the Oscar-winning star worries about her own children’s relationship with technology.
“We all do – my youngest is about to turn nine and I do worry,” she told Sky News. “But it’s very, very hard, isn’t it, as a parent? Saying ‘No, you can’t have that, hey, stop looking at that, don’t look at it’ – because we’re doing it.
“Social media has always worried me – I think that there are extraordinary benefits to it for some people, but you have to be quite robust, I think, to know how to use it wisely and carefully.”
Winslet believes the pandemic exacerbated issues that already existed for children.
“Young people, I think especially because of COVID, it just got really out of control – loneliness and insecurity and just building a basic level of self-esteem for so many of these children. During COVID that self-esteem they were sort of searching for almost online in some way, and that’s desperately sad.
“And I think that everyone in some way can resonate with that story, and that idea resonates with most parents today who have teenagers – it’s incredibly hard.”
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Pic: Channel 4
‘None of us as parents have a manual’
I Am Ruth sees Winslet’s character, Ruth, clearly unprepared for how to deal with her daughter as she withdraws, refusing to speak to her mother or arguing with her on the rare occasions she does leave her bedroom.
The actress hopes viewers might recognise aspects of the characters or what they’re going through. “It’s important to me to create space for people to talk about things that are really uncomfortable,” she said.
“Sometimes I am aware that being a little bit in the public eye and being someone who does have a little bit of a history with hopefully inspiring women and making women feel celebrated and seen and part of a wider conversation, I was aware that in doing something like this, we had to really get it right because hopefully people will watch and will listen and will feel that they can start to open up and have those conversations.
“So I definitely felt the responsibility. It was never a burden, but I just felt that we’ve really got to get this right. Like how the character looks, for example, we could not dress her up at all, we had to go very much the opposite.
“And also setting this in a middle-class world was really important to me – I said to Dominic [Savage], we can only do this if we don’t set it in a lower socioeconomic environment because I feel that often when stories like that are told on television or on film, that typically they are set in a more lower-class environment and I don’t think that’s right, and I don’t think that’s accurate in terms of now.
“I think it is the middle classes who are struggling and coming across these issues and I think it’s taking their breath away and none of us as parents have a manual. Sometimes we do look our children in the eye and just think, ‘oh, my God, I don’t know what to do’.”
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Winslet won an Emmy in 2021 for her performance in the hit series Mare Of Easttown. Pic: AP
‘We know how to push each other’s buttons’
The film was built around improvisation; the actors discussed scenes before filming but there was no exacting script. With Winslet and her daughter acting together, she says there were times when the fictional story tipped over into reality.
“There was always going to be an inevitable area of crossover just because we’ve all gone through something with our children. And obviously, when you put Mia and I together, we know how to push each other’s buttons and are not afraid to raise our voice to one another, even though it’s a really uncomfortable thing to do.”
The lines between reality and drama were also blurred in other parts of the production, giving the film a unique authenticity.
“There’s a scene in I Am Ruth when we sit down with a doctor who was actually a real doctor, who was really called Doctor Susie, and that was really her surgery. And the first time Mia and I met her was when the cameras were rolling and we walked into that room, so it was a really real visceral experience for both of us.
“But when she says, I’m going to get a referral to CAMHS [children and adolescent mental health services], my character says ‘I don’t know what that is’ – because some people don’t know.
“I think giving that little bit of education, throwing things into the conversation and hopefully making people feel as though they aren’t alone – this is a story that resonates, [parents] are sick of their children being obsessed and addicted to their phones, and at the same time, not knowing how to handle it.”
In developing this story and producing her hit drama Mare of Easttown, Winslet seems to be prioritising her career away from the camera as much as her acting.
“As a woman in her 40s, often women think this is the time when we kind of start to fade and decline a little bit – NO, you become more woman, more powerful, more important, your voice is stronger – get out there and use it…
“It’s a completely different ballgame because you’re constantly juggling everything, being aware of what’s going on, on set all the time and making sure everyone’s happy, as well as playing the character and raising the financing – it’s a lot, but the sense of achievement is enormous and always wanting to tell stories with a degree of integrity and certainly truth to me is absolutely paramount.”
I Am Ruth airs on Channel 4 later and will be available on catch up service All4
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
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He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.
Bruce Springsteen is to release seven albums of mostly unheard material this summer.
The US singer said the songs, written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018, were being made public after he began completing “everything I had in my vault” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a short video posted on Instagram, Springsteen said the albums were “records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released”.
The 83-song collection is being released in a box set called Tracks II: The Lost Albums and goes on sale on 27 June.
Some 74 of the tracks have never been heard before.
Springsteen first teased the release on Wednesday morning with a short social media video accompanied by text which said: “What was lost has been found”.
Tracks II is the follow-up to the star’s first Tracks volume, a four-CD collection of 66 unreleased songs, released in 1998.
Bruce Springsteen at New York’s Carnegie Hall at a tribute to Patti Smith last month. Pic: PA
The New Jersey-born rocker, nicknamed The Boss, last released a studio album in 2022.
Only the Strong Survive was a collection of covers, including songs by Motown and soul artists, such as the Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Frankie Wilson and Jimmy Ruffin.
The late soul legend Sam Moore, who died in January and was a frequent Springsteen collaborator, sang on two of the tracks.
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Springsteen is coming to the UK in May to launch a two-month tour of Europe with his E Street Band.
The shows will include performances at the Co-op Live in Manchester and Liverpool’s Anfield stadium.
The singer-songwriter has sold more than 140 million records since his debut on the music scene in 1973, according to his website.
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
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