Melanie Lynskey mourns ‘heartbreaking’ loss of friendship with Kate Winslet

‘When I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I’ve had,’ Lynskey said

Melanie Lynskey compared losing touch with Kate Winslet to a breakup in a recent podcast appearance.

The two actors – now 45 and 47, respectively – co-starred in Peter Jackson’s psychological thriller Heavenly Creatures in 1994 when they were teenagers.

It was both of their feature film debuts and they played two friends whose relationship culminates in the murder of one of their mothers.

Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday (20 April), Lynskey said: “When I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I’ve had.”

The Yellowjackets star continued: “It was so painful and it wasn’t like anything happened, it’s just she became a gigantic, international movie star and she didn’t have a lot of time and then, suddenly, she’d be in Los Angeles and not have time.”

Winslet went on to star in Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility in 1995 before going stratospheric with James Cameron’s Titanic in 1997.

Lynskey acknowledged that people do naturally drift apart but “that was so painful for me”.

Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in 'Heavenly Creatures' (Rex Features)

In a 2012 interview with TIME, Lynskey explained that she and Winslet shared a “very intense” bond and “couldn’t let it go,” adding: “We would write each other letters and talk on the phone all the time. We were in constant contact for so long.”

Reflecting on the film in a 2020 interview, Winslet recalled being sexually harassed by a male crewmember during a nude scene with Lynskey.

“One of the camera boys – as we’re lining up a shot, and we’re both in our little undies, naked from the waist up – I heard him as an aside say to someone else, ‘Well, I guess it’s hard-d***s day, boys,’” she said.

“I don’t know a single girl, actually, who hasn’t experienced some level of harassment on that level. Even if they’re just words, they’re so powerful. It’s like bullying.”

The actor did emphasise that, in spite of that incident, Heavenly Creatures was her “most treasured film experience”.

Lynskey currently stars in Yellowjackets season two, with episodes released weekly on Paramount+.