In last night’s series premiere of HBO’s The Regime, Kate Winslet—in character as Elena Vernham, chancellor of an unnamed fascist European country—goes onstage at a state dinner and serenades the crowd of dignitaries with Chicago’s 1976 hit “If You Leave Me Now.” As USA Today puts it, Winslet sings “cringingly off-key, but delivered with full-throated gusto”—and Winslet actually was told to sing worse during the scene, as she is, in addition to her many other talents, quite a good singer.
“He said, ‘Sing it badly,’” Winslet said of director Stephen Frears. “It was a brilliant piece of direction, because it let the audience know that you’re supposed to laugh. ‘Welcome to this delusional woman’s world.’ So that was my biggest note: ‘Do it worse!’”
