Just about every formidable movie actor eventually plays a detective. That doesn't mean it's easy.
"It was one of the biggest challenges I've ever been slapped with," said Kate Winslet, who gets her turn at carrying a badge in "Mare of Easttown," a gripping new miniseries debuting Sunday on HBO. "She's nothing like me. That's pretty scary in a great way if you're an actor like me who likes to feel terrified and exposed."
Her character, Sgt. Mare Sheehan, seems to know everyone in her small Pennsylvania town. That's a blessing when it comes to resolving nuisance calls, a curse when trying to unwind over endless Rolling Rocks at the local tavern.
The day-to-day routine gets broken up after a teenage mother is found murdered in the woods, a case that may be tied to the disappearance of another girl years earlier. If that wasn't enough to justify Sheehan's drinking habit, she's also dealing with the suicide of her oldest child, a custody battle that may mean giving up her grandson and news that her ex is getting remarried.
That may not sound as daunting as being on the Titanic, but Winslet makes you feel like Sheehan is trapped on a sinking ship.
To prepare for the role, Winslet spent time with two police departments, watched lots of crime footage on YouTube and was coached by a real-life officer who ordered her to ignore everything she picked up from watching "Law & Order."
"She would come up to me after a scene and say, 'Mmm, no, that's what they do on TV. Don't do that,' " Winslet told reporters during a news conference earlier this year. "I'd get so obsessed with putting handcuffs on correctly and she'd be like, 'Sometimes it can be messy. Don't worry if it's not exactly perfect all the time.' So that's how I worked through it. Observing real people and working with real people."
The local accent also proved to be tricky.
