In 2020, Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet starred alongside Saoirse Ronan in the intimate LGBTQ+ blockbuster, Ammonite.
Weeks later, during the promotional tour for the romantic-drama, 50-year-old Winslet made a controversial comment about her love scenes with Ronan, which would subsequently go viral.
The big-name movie - which also starred Gemma Jones and Fiona Shaw - is loosely based on the life of 19th century British palaeontologist Mary Anning, played by Winslet, whose job it is to sell fossils to tourists.
After a wealthy archaeologist hires Mary to teach him her expertise and befriend his largely-neglected, frequently unwell wife Charlotte, played by Ronan, the pair form a close bond. Their connection only further strengthens when Charlotte's dismissive husband leaves for business in Europe for several weeks, giving she and Mary the chance to explore their physical sexuality.
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In real life, Mary and Charlotte remained close friend long after the latter's husband had returned, each supporting one another's professional endeavours - which men refused to recognise at the time - through letters later obtained by historians.
Discussing her decision to take on the screenplay, mother-of-three Winslet told Variety at the time: "It was just spectacular.
"I was able to embrace, as part of my research, reading letters and love letters between women."
The Titanic actress also told The Hollywood Reporter that a number of she and 31-year-old Ronan coordinated a number of their most x-rated scenes.
"Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves," she continued, adding another bizarre moment of commentary.
"It's definitely not like eating a sandwich," Winslet joked.
She added: "I just think Saoirse and I, we just felt really safe. Francis [Lee, the director] was naturally very nervous.
"And I just said to him, 'Listen, let us work it out.' And we did. 'We'll start here. We'll do this with the kissing, boobs, you go down there, then you do this, then you climb up here.' I mean, we marked out the beats of the scene so that we were anchored in something that just supported the narrative."
As we say, however, six years later, and Winslet's sandwich comparison still manages to stump both film fans and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
"What does that mean?" one Instagram user demanded.
Another continued: "Who the hell ever said it was like eating a sandwich ? So confused why she had to add that."
"Who told them it was like eating a sandwich?" a third also questioned.
Winslet's remarks resurfaced just weeks after she reflected on her 'first intimate experiences' in life in conversation with Team Deakins podcast hosts, revealing that the majority of them were enjoyed 'with girls'.
The confession came following a reminder of her 1991 role in biographical drama Heavenly Creatures, in which she and cast-mate Melanie Lynskey starred as a pair of obsessed teenage friends.
On the December podcast, Winslet claimed she used the relationships she had with women in her younger years to get into character, claiming these inspired the 'really intense connection' she and Lynskey shared.
“I’ll share something I’ve never shared before," she began. "Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls. I’d kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction."
Winslet went on to admit: "At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood.
"I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in that obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them, and they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities."
Topics: Celebrity, UK News, TV And Film, LGBTQ
Rhianna Benson