HOLLYWOOD actress Kate Winslet said playing palaeontologist Mary Anning had been one of the most ‘joyful experiences’ of her career – and described secluding herself in an isolated Dorset home to get her head into the role.

The Oscar-winning actress spent time in Lyme Regis during filming for Ammonite, which follows a fictitious relationship between the famous fossil hunter and another woman, played by Saoirse Ronan.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the star described the filming process.

She said: “I tried to be isolated. I don’t have assistants on set or stuff like that. I never have. I drove myself to and from work just because I needed to be in Mary’s headspace. I was able to stay in a rented house that belongs to some family friends of ours. It’s a very small, small house that sits right on a heavily pebbled beach right by the cliffs.

“When the wind would blow, the whole place would rattle and shake. I know that sounds a little bit possibly indulgent, but that helped me to be living alone, tucked away, being buffeted by the elements in the way that Mary would. If in doubt, just go back to basics: Put yourself as near to the situation as you possibly can.”

During the interview, she also spoke of her deep respect for the famed palaeontologist, adding: “She was a woman of pure integrity. She was impoverished, uneducated, and completely self-taught.

“She found her first ichthyosaurs at the age of 11 and it took almost a year to dig it out. She lived an extremely frugal existence. She just got on with it. She just accepted that she lived in a time of systemic repression, a patriarchal society that dictated that her successes would never be seen or celebrated in her lifetime. And yet she didn’t complain. She was compassionate and she was kind.

“To be able to play this character who shows that level of affection and expression for someone of the same sex has been one of the most joyful experiences of my career.

"Mary Anning was a woman whose successes - her scientific achievements -were robbed from her by greedy rich men who weren’t as clever as she was.

“It’s important that we know that great women came before us and did extraordinary things. She’s the reason why we know about ichthyosaurs and we know what coprolites are—which is dinosaur poop, basically. From her discovering that, we know what dinosaurs ate.”

Ammonite, developed by See-Saw Films, the British Film Institute and BBC Films, and written and directed by Francis Lee, is set in 1840s England and follows Anning as she becomes a nursemaid for a wealthy woman from London.

When the film was announced last year there was some controversy about the romance at its centre, with some critics taking issue with Anning having a same-sex relationship when it hasn’t been proven that she was homosexual.

But Winslet said: “It’s not supposed to be a biopic and there really isn’t any evidence at all to suggest that she had relationships with women or with men. This was Francis Lee’s interpretation. With Ammonite, Francis created a story about two people who fall in love. "That they are of the same sex is never addressed or explained - it just is, pure and simple.”

Filming took place in Lyme Regis along the harbour, Cobb and Monmouth Beach.

The film closed the 2020 London Film Festival in October, ahead of its UK release in 2021.