Kate Winslet’s first on-screen romance remains widely remembered, and a recent comment has brought it back into discussion. Peter Jackson joked that he “set the bar pretty high” for her first on-screen kiss, making the remark as he looked back on their time working together.

Peter Jackson recalls working with Kate Winslet on Heavenly Creatures

While accepting an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Peter Jackson reflected on his work with Kate Winslet. He fondly recalled directing her in Heavenly Creatures, the 1994 drama that marked her feature-film debut.

As a montage of his films played, Jackson highlighted a brief yet memorable cameo in the 1994 drama with a 17-year-old Winslet. “So looking at those clips, I realizedHeavenly Creatureswas Kate Winslet’s first film and my cameo was playing that tramp in the street,” Jackson said, addressing the audience on May 13, per PEOPLE. “So, I realized that I actually gave Kate Winslet her first on-screen kiss.”

“It’s a lot of fun when you make movies and it’s even more fun when you get to start the career of somebody else in the film industry,” the New Zealand filmmaker Jackson stated, according to Metro. “I’m very proud [of that].”

Directed by Peter Jackson more than three decades ago, Heavenly Creatures drew on New Zealand’s notorious Parker–Hulme murder case. The film traced the obsessive friendship between Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, portrayed by Melanie Lynskey. The moment in question occurred outside a movie theater, when Kate Winslet’s character, Hulme, impulsively kisses Jackson’s unnamed character in excitement.

The psychological drama launched Winslet’s career and established Peter Jackson as a filmmaker who could blend dark themes with emotional depth. He later directed the blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy, followed by King Kong and The Hobbit films.

Meanwhile, Winslet went on to become one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actresses, starring in Titanic, The Reader, and The Holiday.