Kate Winslet may not be an epidemiologist, but she’s played one on screen. The 2011 film
Contagion starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Winslet herself has been pretty popular since the spread of conronavirus impacted the entire world and Kate says she actually learned a lot from starring in the movie—most significantly, that masks and hand-washing are crucial to limiting virus spread. She was an early adopter of the face mask and credits the move to her time working on
Contagion.“People thought I was crazy,” Winslet told
The Hollywood Reporter. “I had been walking around wearing a mask for weeks, going into the grocery store and wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and wearing gloves. Then all of a sudden March 13 came around, and people were like, ‘F--k, where do I get one of those masks?'”Winslet shared that she's been riding out the pandemic at her home in the London countryside ever since that world-altering day in March. She explained that she's not taking any chances when it comes to self-isolation.“I think it’s the unknown element of this virus—we just don’t know how it’s going to affect any given individual—I think that was what’s so terrifying,” Winslet said. “I’m a very practical, straightforward person, and if I have to respond to an emergency, I just go into that zone.” She also sprang into action to encourage others to take the outbreak as seriously as she was. Winslet and other
Contagion cast members appeared in a PSA on the importance of hand-washing and sanitization at the end of March.“In the movie
Contagion, I played an epidemiologist trying to stop the spread of a hypothetical virus,” Winslet
said in the PSA. “To prepare for the role, I spent time with some of the best public health professionals in the world. And what was one of the most important things they taught me? Wash your hands like your life depends on it because right now, in particular, it just might.”[video_embed id='2022692']RELATED: Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem's backyard chat [/video_embed]For Winslet, it's not just the fake
Contagion plague that has her taking COVID-19 so seriously, she's also had two close friends who have contracted the virus."One was in L.A. and was very lucky to get on a trial using convalescent plasma and did really, really well in the space of, like, 72 hours after the treatment,” she told
THR. “And a dialect coach who lives in London has had it, was in hospital for 11 weeks, is out, and has had every lung test, blood test, blood pressure test, and is clear of everything but just cannot get better—is breathless, lethargic, still feels very unwell.”The Oscar winner, who’ll appear in
Ammonite opposite Saorise Ronan at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, has thankfully managed to stay healthy throughout the outbreak herself and will be returning to filming her new HBO series
Mare of Easttown as early as next month. Thanks to strict new protocols, she isn’t nervous about being exposed to the virus on set but she's got another serious fear: “Now that I’m going to have to go back to work, I’m like, ‘Oh f--k, I’ve forgotten how to act!'”[video_embed id='2023378']BEFORE YOU GO: ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Andre Braugher on what needs to change about police shows [/video_embed]
