At this point in her career, Kate Winslet has starred in too many amazing movie roles to count. Titanic is obviously one of her most iconic, but Winslet also melted hearts around the world when she appeared in the festive rom-com The Holiday with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and Jack Black.
The Christmas-themed love story has been a cult classic since it was released in 2006, with fans still eager for a reunion or a sequel (or both).
While Winslet has had a real-life platonic relationship with most of her on-screen lovers (including her most famous movie beau, Leonardo DiCaprio), she has had to act with people whom she’s dated in real life before.
Case in point: years before they appeared together in this festive flick, Kate Winslet dated her The Holiday co-star. Keep reading to find out which actor she had a fling with and how she felt about their on-set reunion years later.
‘The Holiday’ Starring Kate Winslet And Cameron Diaz
Released in 2006, The Holiday is now one of the most popular and beloved Christmas films of all time. The iconic story takes place in two primary locations: a mansion in Los Angeles and a little cottage outside of London.
The two main characters, Iris and Amanda, are both sick of men and decide they need to go on a solo vacation over Christmas.
The women connect online and swap houses for two weeks, sending Amanda to Iris’s English cottage and Iris to Beverly Hills. While the ladies are in their new Christmas travel spots, they meet new love interests and form new relationships over the holidays.
Iris was expertly played by Kate Winslet while Cameron Diaz executed the role of Amanda. Their love interests, Miles and Graham, were played by Jack Black and Jude Law respectively.
The “villain” of the rom-com is Jasper Bloom, a co-worker of Iris’ who has strung her along for years and just announced his engagement to another woman, leaving a devastated Iris eager to travel across the Atlantic to escape him.
Jasper is played by British actor Rufus Sewell. Most fans of The Holiday don’t realize that Sewell and Winslet used to date!
Kate Winslet And Rufus Sewell In ‘The Holiday’
The dynamic between Iris and Jasper in the movie leaves a lot of room for Iris to grow. She starts out totally head over heels for him, even though he treats her terribly.
But when she arrives in Los Angeles, she fosters new relationships and learns to love herself again, much to Jasper’s dismay.
Some of the best lines of the movie happen between these two characters, including Iris’s declaration: “I have a life to start living. And YOU’RE not going to be in it.”
The Relationship Between Kate Winslet And Rufus Sewell
Viewers are so happy to see Iris be rid of Jasper that it’s difficult to imagine Kate Winslet and Rufus Sewell being friendly in real life. But according to Ranker, these two did date for real for a few months between 1995 and 1996.
At this point in her career, Winslet was just about to star in Titanic, the biggest film role of her life, and the one that would launch her to superstardom.
Meanwhile, Sewell had also starred in a few projects but was a few years off acting in the film that led to his commercial breakthrough: A Knight’s Tale, where he played the villain Count Adhemar opposite Heath Ledger.
What Was Their Reunion Like On The Set Of ‘The Holiday’
Everyone knows that working with an ex can be super-awkward. But when talking about the experience of reuniting with Sewell on the set of The Holiday, Kate Winslet revealed that things were totally friendly.
When she first heard that she was going to be seeing her old flame again, she was happy: "It was really not a big deal—I was thrilled he got the part."
She then went on to clarify that the two had remained friends, even if they hadn’t seen each other in a while. "It was completely fine,” she revealed (via the Irish Examiner).
“I hadn't seen him for a very long time but we'd remained friends."
How Kate Winslet Feels About Having Starred In ‘The Holiday’
At first, Kate Winslet was anxious about starring in The Holiday and even believed she was going to be fired because she couldn’t pull off that kind of comedy. But she ended up being a success as Iris and had a blast on the set.
“I think the thing I loved the most about Iris is that it was an opportunity for me to play somebody who was emotionally complex, because I do believe that she is,” the actress explained in an interview with Collider.
“But at the same time she’s such a good person, she really is. She’s a very decent, honest, English girl, you know, she has quite traditional values and I’m like that myself also. And it was really a pleasure to play somebody who I was able to fully embrace and really adore, I mean I genuinely adored playing this part.”
Kate Winslet’s Relationship With Jack Black
Though Kate Winslet dated Rufus Sewell in real life, her on-screen love interest was Jack Black, who played Miles. Black was reportedly reluctant to appear in the film until he heard that Winslet was attached.
Excited to work with the iconic actress, Black signed on immediately, and the rest is Christmas movie magic history.
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