Kate Winslet stunned onlookers today at the world premiere of “Titanic 3D,” ushering in the re-release of her classic disaster movie. The “Carnage” actress has revealed that she felt like she was filming a scene from the iconic movie as she fled a fire at 4:30 a.m. on Richard Branson’s Necker Island last summer.
Winslet appeared cool and collected in a bejeweled black dress, walking the “Titanic” red carpet at London’s Royal Albert Hall. However, the actress told “Live with Kelly Ripa” that she felt anything but calm when lightning struck the flagpole of Branson’s lavish home and the whole thing went up in flames.
“I really did think to myself, ‘Someone is going to say cut in a minute. Oh my God, no one is saying cut,'” shared Winslet. “I thought, ‘The wind machine is really good, but that rain is going to look so fake because there’s way too much of it. And this fire — it looks so real.'”
Winslet told Ripa that, although the media did cover the fire, the seriousness of the blaze was not widely understood.
“It is the one occasion where I would say the press didn’t actually really know the full extent of it. It was genuinely terrifying,” said Winslet. “If one of Richard’s nephew’s, Jack, hadn’t woken up and heard this loud bang — which was the windows exploding — he raised the alarm. Or if the wind was blowing in the other direction and our rooms had filled with smoke … who knows. Really, we woke up with about four minutes to get out. We were very, very lucky.”
While much has been made of Winslet carrying Branson’s mother out of the home on her back, the actress says that those reports are greatly exaggerated. Winslet says she merely “helped her to get out faster.”
Winslet shared that only one person was injured in the fire — Branson himself — and not because of flames or smoke.
“Nobody was hurt, except Richard, who woke up and saw the house across from his, with us and all his family in there, and got up and ran, naked, right into a cactus,” said Winslet. “He got this huge cactus needle stuck in his thigh.”
While on Necker Island, Winslet met new boyfriend Ned RockNRoll, Branson’s eccentric nephew. While RockNRoll left a London hotel holding Winslet’s hand before today’s premiere, Winslet walked the red carpet solo, posing for photos with “Titanic” director James Cameron. Leonardo DiCaprio was also conspicuously absent.