You’d think being the daughter of Oscar-winner Kate Winslet might prepare you for working off a fellow screen legend like Tom Hanks. Think again. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair ahead of the Cannes premiere of what could be her breakout role, Winslet scion Mia Threapleton recounted her experience working with some of cinema’s top talent on Wes Anderson‘s “The Phoenician Scheme.”
“I remember this moment where I had Tom Hanks on my left, Bryan Cranston on my right, Riz Ahmed diagonally, Benicio in front of me, Wes at one end, and Michael [Cera] to the other side,” said Threapleton. “Tom was telling a story about an experience that he’d had filming ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ I just sat there and I put my hands under my legs. I’m thinking, ‘It’s bloody Woody.’ Get out! What am I doing here? This is ridiculous.”
A similar moment occurred when Cranston invited her out to lunch one day. She had to remind herself “it’s not Walter White. That’s Bryan Cranston. That’s your coworker.” However, the one person Threapleton did find herself immediately at ease with was her director.
“I went and met Wes, and instantly wasn’t nervous about him at all because he was wearing pink socks and hotel slippers with glasses,” she told Vanity Fair. “We just talked for a really long time. We both had this moment of going, ‘We should probably do some acting right?’”
Though she did see her mom work while she was growing up, Threapleton described it as “the equivalent of a lawyer taking their child into a courtroom,” and her interest didn’t really grow until she got older. When she did have to tell her mom she’d be following in her footsteps, Winslet seemed to approach it not from the perspective of venerated performer, but from that of a parent and realest.
“She said, ‘Amazing, okay, I’m so excited for you,’ and I won’t ever forget what she said next,” Threapleton said. “She said, ‘It’s really hard work, darling. It’s really hard work — but that’s why I love it.’”
“The Phoenician Scheme” releases in select theaters on May 30 and nationwide on June 6 from Focus Features.
