Kate Winslet often plays the role of a strong woman or heroine. In the film Labor Day, she plays someone completely different and lets a more vulnerable side show through. Labor Day is the story of a single mother and her son who allow an escaped prisoner to stay in their home. Over time, Winslet’s character falls for the convict and their meeting changes all of their lives.

Although the role is different from what Winslet is used to, she seems to have nailed it. She talked about what it was like to play something so different from what she was used to saying,

“I hadn’t played a character who was so the opposite of the sort of strong, strident, more obviously passionate women that I think I’ve played in the past.”

“I was keen to explore somebody who was much more introverted and fragmented,” she continued. “I was fascinated by that. I had played mothers, but I hadn’t really played a single mother to a son of that age. And that’s a particularly interesting dynamic.”

“Also, I was drawn to the unexpected nature of the love story, which I found very moving.”

Winslet may not be familiar with playing a single mother role, but being a mother is something she knows a little bit about. She and husband Ned Rocknroll became the parents of a baby boy last year. She also has two older children from her two previous marriages.

Labor Day premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and landed Winslet a best actress Golden Globe nomination. It opened in theaters this past Friday.

Have you seen Labor Day and if so how do you think Kate Winslet did in her role as single mother Adele Wheeler?

Image via Wikimedia Commons.