Kate Winslet might be an actress of the most esteemed calibre, but that doesn't mean it's plain sailing every time. When she was selected to star in Alan Rickman's latest directorial effort 'A Little Chaos', adapting to the role had its challenges.

Kate Winslet in 'A Little Chaos'Kate Winslet reveals gardening left her with constantly filthy hands

All actors make a lot of sacrifices in the name of cinema and Kate Winslet is no exception. The film that she is most known for was particularly stunt heavy (1997's 'Titanic'), but with her latest flick she would be sacrificing more in the way of her daily comfort. Though, at least it was only over a period of eight weeks.

More: Read our review of 'A Little Chaos'

Talking about preparing for the role of Palace of Versailles gardener Sabine De Barra, Winslet explains that her main focus was taking up gardening herself. 'Just to notice how muddy my hands always were; there would always be little bits of mud just ingrained somewhere or other', she explains. 'I'm proud to say that every single night on this film pretty much I've gone home and have been digging out the mud because it just has to live there in her.'

Watch the trailer for 'A Little Chaos' here: 



While it can't have been particularly enjoyable to be walking around with dirty hands all day, it's clear that she had a great time on set, especially in re-uniting with director and star Alan Rickman with whom she first worked on 'Sense And Sensibility' at the age of 19. These days, she admits, it's less of a challenge to work with such an esteemed actor. 

More: Alan Rickman talks about working with Kate Winslet again

'I'm calmer as a person and less nervous', she insists. 'I remember when I first met Alan Rickman aged 19 I wanted to collapse in a heap. His voice is so rich and so powerful that it can be really quite intimidating and I really realised on this film that he's just so not a scary person at all.'

The same couldn't be said for being re-united with another old friend, however; the corset. 'Being in a period film again, I haven't done that for a very long time', she says. 'After day one of being in the corsets I could've burnt them all because they are absolute agony.'

'A Little Chaos' will be released in the US on June 26th 2015.