A matriarch in every sense of the word, June is the emotional center of her family, always there to cheer up one of her children or offer firm words of advice, even as her spirits deteriorate and her health dramatically declines. Her condition takes a turn for the worse in the weeks before Christmas, and she’s stuck in the hospital while her family members — some of whom haven’t spoken to each other without fighting in a while — gather at her bedside. 

The role of June required someone who could match the character’s infectious passion for life and connection, even while facing the end, and Winslet and Anders knew it had to be Academy Award-winning actor Helen Mirren. 

Each of June’s four children exhibits a clear reverence for their quick-witted force of a mother as they struggle to imagine life beyond her. That reverence for Mirren is mirrored by the actors who play her children. “She brings a truth to mortality,” says Collette, who plays the eldest of June’s children. Adds Winslet: “It takes a huge amount of trust in a director for an actress to look so broken down and sickly, the way Helen does in the film.”

The Thursday Murder Club, The Queen, Gosford Park

The eldest child of the family, Helen is an unabashed free spirit, carving her own path and living abroad in Berlin, where she teaches a holistic dance therapy class. After hearing the news from her sister Julia, she arrives at her ailing mother’s bedside with healing crystals and sage in tow.

Despite both having decades-spanning careers, Winslet and Collette had never worked together before Goodbye June came along. Winslet had long admired Collette’s work and was delighted when the actor responded so deeply to Anders’s screenplay. “Joe’s script is so observant, so true, with so much perceptiveness. It has heart. It’s about life and love,” says Collette. Sharing the screen and being directed by a titan like Winslet was equally special. “I have wanted to work with Kate for so long and it has turned out to be the best working experience of my entire career,” she says. “She is fearless, open, decisive, focused, and listens to everyone. She makes it all fun.”

Collette was adept at bringing a comedic charm that was crucial to the film’s true-to-life tone, where laughter often follows tears. “Toni was absolutely fantastic at getting the measure of that humor, really placing it correctly so that it was never too much and never felt forced,” says Winslet. “She can just do anything, she's so talented.”  

Wayward, Knives Out, Hereditary 

Before she took the helm of Goodbye June as director, Winslet signed on to play Julia, the second eldest of June’s children. Julia is a working mother of three, as committed to her high-powered job as she is to her family. While she keeps up the appearance of having it all together, she’s struggling under the pressure to provide for both her children and her parents. Her tension with her younger sister Molly (Riseborough) comes to a head as the entire brood collides at the hospital, rushing to their mother’s aid. 

Upon first read, Winslet found her son’s script undeniable. “I read it and it was clear to me, having read hundreds of screenplays over the years, that my son was indeed a proper writer, and it was apparent that the potential to make this into a film was real,” says Winslet. “His story was universal and funny, and somehow he’d nailed the Britishness of each character and the environment so accurately that it was a truly impressive read.” 

Lee, Mare of Easttown, The Reader

The Academy Award-nominated actor plays Molly, the youngest daughter of the family and fiercely protective of her mother. She’s not afraid to push back on hospital staff, insisting that they be honest about June’s condition and how much time the family has left with her. As the third youngest of the siblings, Molly has an adversarial relationship with Julia, with whom she struggles to connect. 

The two sisters haven’t spoken in ages when their mother’s illness forces them to confont their differences. Molly is an onverwhelmed stay-at-home mother — who prioritizes an organic, clean lifestyle for the family she shares with her husband Jerry (Stephen Merchant) — which sits in sharp contrast to the buttoned-up, polished Julia. “There is terrible tension between them that has mounted up over the years, all misunderstandings and bad communication as well as petty grievances that have been long held,” says Winslet.  “Both of them are extremely stubborn, which is the only similarity they share. Molly believes herself to be out of control in comparison to Julia, who always appears to be effortlessly poised and capable of coping. Their suppressed fury is palpable. They both compete for their mother’s love and approval desperately.”

The thorny, complex dynamic only benefitted from the existing closeness between the two actors. Riseborough and Winslet had recently worked together, both in the wartime drama Lee and the political satire series The Regime, when Winslet approached her to come aboard Goodbye June. “Andrea agreed to take part without even really knowing what her part was going to involve,” explains Winslet. That didn’t impact Riseborough’s fervent admiration for the project. “It is beautiful, insightful, and perfect,” says the actor. “Not to mention deeply moving and funny.”

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, To Leslie, Birdman

Connor is the youngest of June and Bernie’s children, a true baby of the family who still lives at home with his aging parents. The thirtysomething has decided to devote his life to caring for his mother and is unwilling to accept the reality of her decline. 

Connor resents his father for his cluelessness when it comes to June’s condition and what he himself has given up to support her in the way that she needs. “Connor hasn’t changed much since 1997 — still wearing charity shop buys and stuck in the ’90s, not seizing the day. He is struggling with his identity and questions the choices he has made in his life,” says Flynn. “And he has three dominant characters in his sisters. He’s an emotional sponge, overflowing with feelings but no room to express himself.” 

Both Winslet and Anders thought Flynn would be the right choice to play the endearing youngest child, and the screenwriter shared an early version of the story with Flynn after a chance encounter at an event. Flynn was immediately on board to be a part of Goodbye June, as he feels the film “approaches life and death in the most beautiful way”. 

Ripley, Emma, Stardust

Though a devoted husband to June, Bernie is in denial about the seriousness of his wife’s cancer. He struggles to acknowledge just how much pain she’s in, instead bumbling around the hospital watching football on television with a beer in hand, quick to make an ill-timed joke that draws eye rolls from his children. He is often sparring with his only son, Connor, as they live under the same roof, but it’s also with Connor that he is his most vulnerable. 

Beneath a surface of laxness, Bernie is being crushed under the weight of unexpressed grief and the love he has for his dying wife. “Everyone is dealing with the impending death in their different ways,” Spall says. “It’s a loving family, but there are tensions. They are all there for June, and as a result, the gatherings around her bed bring out the positive in the family.”

Winslet and Spall first worked together almost three decades ago in 1996’s Hamlet, and their reunion only confirmed their creative connection. “Tim gives a beautifully subtle performance, carrying his own pain but using it comedically to mask his torment,” Winslet says. “The beauty of the script is the characters all have a journey of self-discovery,” says Spall. “It’s cathartic.”

Spencer, Mr. Turner, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,