Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth Dish on Their May-December Onscreen Romance in 'The Dressmaker' : 'He's About 5 Years Old'

In a new Salon interview, Liam Hemsworth admitted to being nervous about the age gap between him and The Dressmaker costar Kate Winslet

Photo: Getty (2)

There may be a 14-year age difference between Kate Winslet and her The Dressmaker costar Liam Hemsworth, but the Oscar winner insists she never noticed.

“Isn’t that great, he’s about 5 years old,” Winslet, 39, joked in a new Salon interview. “It didn’t really occur to me actually at all, I really didn’t know how old he is, I truly didn’t.”

The actress said her chemistry with the 25-year-old hunk overshadowed any impact the pair’s age gap had on their onscreen portrayals of two small-town Australians.

“I felt more experienced than him in terms of career and in terms of the amount of years that I’ve been doing it for in comparison to him, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable or that or awkward at all,” she told Salon. “I didn’t have a sort of fist-pumping moment of ‘Hey, look at me with the younger actor.’ I didn’t feel like that. He was the right person for the role.”

In The Dressmaker, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday night, Winslet plays a couture seamstress who returns to her hometown to seek revenge against those who banished her when she was a child for her involvement in a fatal accident. Hemsworth stars as Teddy, a local who steals her heart.

Hemsworth, however, admitted to being initially “worried” about the pair’s May-December gap.

“I felt like I was possibly too young to play this part because in this film we’re seen as the same age, around the same age,” the Hunger Games star said, adding, “But onscreen – Kate is such a beautiful woman and I have a beard in the film so I look quite a bit older, so I don’t think it’s an issue at all … She looks really young and I look weathered and old.”

Winslet couldn’t help but gush about Hemsworth, who uses his authentic accent for the first time on the big screen in The Dressmaker.

“What was so lovely actually was that he was very open in expressing how excited he was that he was going to learn from all the actors around him,” she told Salon.

The actress called Hemsworth “down-to-earth” and “sweet,” and said he was always “very, very happy” on the set Down Under.

The Independence Day: Resurgence star seemed to have a ball at TIFF, and donned the entire contents of his swag bag for a hilarious (and pants-less) photo.

For full coverage of the 2015 Toronto Film Festival – including the hottest premieres, the biggest stars and the buzziest films – check out people.com/tiff, instyle.com and ew.com