A bunch of nuns from international colleagues are waiting on my screen, but then suddenly a figure appears who looks a little more interesting than the others: Megastar Kate Winslet – who is on Zoom to talk about Monday’s TV series premiere: “The regime ” on the streaming service HBO Max.
Winslet fronts this satire about a fictional European country led by a despotic woman with a grandiose personality. Elena Vernham, as she’s called, is Marie Antoinette-level aloof and wears equally baroque creations.
In six well-written episodes, we follow Elena through political turmoil, a raw love story and the eternal struggle with her own annoyances. The series takes place almost entirely within the walls of the castle, where the aesthetic draws on Wes Anderson’s comic book style. We could also be in Tintin’s Bordurien.
Elena likes to perform on national television, singing love songs to his people. In the first episode, she performs Chicago’s old earring “If you leave me now”. Which became a challenge for Kate Winslet.
– The script only said that Elena sang, so I went on stage and did my best. It’s still a bit awkward standing there and singing in front of the whole team but I thought it was going well – until I looked at Stephen (Frears, director) who was standing there shaking his head. What the hell…!? I thought.
Kate Winslet at the premiere of “The regime” in New York. Photo: Lev Radin
– Why the hell are you shaking your head, I asked and he replied that I “sang too well”. “Sing falsely,” he shouted.
Brilliant, thought Kate Winslet. It became an obvious entry into a character without self-awareness. A woman talking to her dead father, the former dictator, who lies dead in a glass coffin in the castle’s basement. The embalming doesn’t seem to be very well done as the father is a little more moldy every time Elena goes down to talk to him. The leader of the opposition (a brief but entertaining performance by Hugh Grant) is officially banished to a luxurious exile in the mountains but is actually rotting in the dungeons. Elena ends up in conflict with the outside world, above all around the country’s large deposit of cobalt, which causes both the United States and China to make their political and economic promises around the nation.
When Elena lets invade the neighboring country and refuses to call it an invasion, the thought is clearly drawn in Vladimir Putin’s direction, but whoever hopes to pump Winslet with some ready-made quotes about the Russian despot will get oops. Winslet and series creator Will Tracy (whom we get to interview later that day) are both clearly reluctant to draw any direct parallels to the real-life regimes.
Elena Vernham is helped by a minion. Photo: IMAGO/Supplied by LMK
– It is important to remember that it is a satire, a comedy, says Kate Winslet, about a small fictional country with a fictional dictator. It would have limited us if we had to stick to real countries and leaders. In this way, the imagination could fly more freely.
The American Will Tracy, experienced purveyor of satire and drama (culinary thriller “The menu”, some episodes of the hit series “Succession”) says much the same thing, but in the end still gets into real geopolitics. He talks about how the great powers have always taken advantage of small countries in their vicinity but that it has become more global now, exemplifying with China that has economic interests in Montenegro (in connection with the big road project “One Belt, One Road”) and that the Western powers are trying to interfere that process. Much like in the series.
Serieskaparen Will Tracy.
Foto: IMAGO/RW
The hardest part was the balance between seriousness and joking, says Will Tracy.
– It is first and foremost a comedy, but I also wanted to give the unhealthy oppression the seriousness it deserves. At the same time, it’s hard to tell about this kind of worldly and narcissistic leader without it becoming absurd. If you perform it with dry humor and distance, and not try to be funny, then hopefully it will still be entertaining.
Kate Winslet has as much zoom screen presence from London that she usually pours into her role interpretations. Straight and to the point, no social bark to lighten the mood, she’s here to talk business. She speaks best and most about the creation process that resulted in Elena. She does it with a dedication that reminds of all the work that lies behind a good acting effort, i.e. even what is not directly visible on the screen.
– The basis is of course the script’s image of the role, but I wanted to dig deeper, delve into Elena’s childhood to try to understand why she is the way she is.
Great emphasis was placed on the dictator’s wardrobe in “The regime” Photo: IMAGO/Supplied by LMK
Which makes me think of the dictator’s speech error: a barely perceptible lisp, combined with a twitch of the left corner of the mouth. But it is so rarely seen and is so subtly done that I first thought about whether it might be Kate Winslet who herself suffers from the condition.
I noticed a slight lisp in Elena. Is it you or your character? I hope for the latter …
– It’s only at Elena’s, says Kate Winslet, without pulling her lips (no barking). I wanted to give her something that was grounded in the past. I actually interviewed a neurologist and a psychiatrist to understand different language patterns, and learned how early trauma can affect speech development. And Elena had a tyrannical father. I wanted to build that upbringing into her body, into her gestures and into the way she talks. And that it would be something she had lived with for a long time and had to accept.
A colleague wonders how a lot of Kate Winslet there is in Elena. It’s a rather tired casual question that is asked far too often to actors, but which the interviewee usually does his best to talk about a little kindly. Not Kate Winslet:
– No, there really isn’t any of me in Elena, says the star and seems to be waiting for the next question but continues anyway:
– I wish I could come up with a good answer but… no. I had to completely transform myself to become this wild, despotic, wacky person. But she is extremely interesting, a truly complex woman with many layers.
Kate Winslet i ”The regime”.
Foto: IMAGO/Supplied by LMK
There were also many layers of textiles, says Kate Winslet when we get into those extravagant creations. The idea was that you wouldn’t be able to place Elena’s clothing style in any particular time or place, not use traditional materials. Instead, there were a lot of strange and flammable synthetic fibers.
– The costume designers did a great job’… but I’ve probably never been as flammable as I was during this recording, she states laconically.
Fakta.Kate Winslet
Born 1975 in Reading, England.
One of the world’s leading actors. Made a breakthrough in Peter Jackson’s “Black Angels”, had a big breakthrough alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the Oscar magnet “Titanic”.
Was extra happy to play in “The regime” because it had been 20 years since she last appeared in a comedy, specifically in an episode of Ricky Gervais’ comedy series “Extras”.
Seven Oscar nominations but only one win, for “The reader”, 2009. Twelve Golden globe nominations, five wins.
Did the voice of Filifjonkan in British “Moominvalley” in 2019.
Roller i urval: ”Avatar. The way of water”, 2022, ”Mare of Easttown”, 2021, ”The dressmaker”, 2015, ”Carnage”, 2011, ”Mildred Pierce”, 2011, ”Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind”, 2004.
Show more Show less
Facts. Will Tracy and “The regime”
Will Tracy is showrunner (series creator) on “The regime”.
He is an award-winning screenwriter and executive producer, having written the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’ remake of the Korean cult film “Save the green planet!”
Scripts in selection: “The menu”, 2022, “Succession” 2019–2023 (three episodes),
”Last week tonight with John Oliver” 2014–2017 (58 avsnitt), ”The onion news network” 2011 (elva avsnitt),
“The regime”: Series creator is Will Tracy, director: Stephen Frears, Jessica Hobbs, script: Will Tracy, Julie Weiner, Jen Spyra and others.
Starring: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Hugh Grant, Andrea Riseborough and more.
Show more Show less
