Kate Winslet thought she died making ‘Avatar 2’

KATE Winslet learned to freedive for ‘Avatar 2’ – in which she will play Ronal – and has broken Tom Cruise’s film record by holding her breath under water for seven minutes and 14 seconds.

Though the 45-year-old actress thought the experience was ‘wonderful’, she was also aware of how dangerous it was.

She said: “God, it’s just wonderful. Your mind completely drifts off. You can’t think about anything, you can’t make lists in your head, you’re just looking at the bubbles underneath you... My first words [when I resurfaced] were, ‘Am I dead?’ Yes, I thought I’d died.”

Kate’s husband, Ned Rocknroll, trained with her and although he got ‘quite good’, he struggled spending too long under water.

She said: “You have to have someone there. Ned trained with me and he got quite good at the breath holding as well. But he did...black out.”

While the ‘Ammonite’ actress – who has Mia, 20, and Joe, 16, from her previous marriages to Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes respectively and Bear, seven, with Ned – loves to immerse herself in her research for her roles, she’s uncomfortable being called a method actor because she hates the idea of ‘w **** process’.

Asked about method acting, she told Observer magazine: “I hate that word. When I was married to Sam he would always tease me with it, ‘You are method.’

“I have an allergic reaction to w **** ‘process’, so I would hate to ever admit that maybe I do have one myself.

“But my dad always used to say to me, ‘You’re only as good as your last gig, babe.’”