Kate Winslet Reveals She & Saoirse Ronan Choreographed Ammonite Sex Scenes: We Felt 'Really Safe'

The actresses had total control over their sex scenes in their upcoming film Ammonite

Kate Winslet (left) and Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite. Photo: Neon Films

Kate Winslet's latest film Ammonite gave the actress control over her nude scenes.

The Oscar winner, 44, appeared on the cover of this week's The Hollywood Reporter in which she spoke about her upcoming film opposite Saoirse Ronan.

Ammonite follows the story of Mary Anning (Winslet), a paleontologist who takes on an apprentice, Ronan's Charlotte Murchison. The two are wary of one another at first but fall passionately in love in 1800s England.

"Saoirse and I choreographed the scene ourselves," Winslet told THR of the most explicit scene in the movie. "It's definitely not like eating a sandwich. I just think Saoirse and I, we just felt really safe."

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Director Francis Lee "was naturally very nervous," the Titanic star said.

"And I just said to him, 'Listen, let us work it out.' And we did," Winslet continued. "'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."

Winslet referred to the moment as a career highlight. "I felt the proudest I've ever felt doing a love scene on Ammonite," she said. "And I felt by far the least self-conscious."

The period piece also stars Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw, Gemma Jones, James McArdle and Alec Secareanu.

While Ammonite was set to play at the Cannes Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival earlier this year, the debuts were canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, the film is scheduled to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

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