The nickname Jack Black gave Kate Winslet that follows her everywhere: “He started it”
Nicknames can be a difficult thing to shake once they begin sticking, especially if they’ve been popularised by Jack Black. The star came up with an affectionate term of endearment for Kate Winslet, which she’s found herself unable to shake for almost two decades.
With a four-letter first name comprised of precisely one syllable, it could be argued that Winslet would be the last person in desperate need of an alias. And yet, Black came up with one anyway, completely oblivious to the fact it would go on to infiltrate the furthest reaches of film and television.
The pair famously co-starred in the beloved romantic comedy The Holiday, which is avidly revisited every festive season. The duo generated plenty of chemistry onscreen and became fast friends when the cameras weren’t rolling, too, with Winslet admitting she’d “love to work with Jack again and again and again”. That hasn’t happened, but he made a different kind of impact.
Since production wrapped on The Holiday in June 2006, Winslet has continued reaffirming herself as one of her generation’s finest talents. She’s appeared in hard-hitting dramas, frivolous comedies, dystopian fantasies, and prestige TV shows, won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’, gotten divorced and remarried, and had two children.
It’s been an eventful life, to say the least, but the one constant throughout it all is that wherever she goes, regardless of which production she’s working on in whatever country in the world it’s happening, the legacy left behind by Black on Nancy Meyer’s warm and fuzzy story of love and missed connections continues to make itself felt.
“My on-set nickname to this day is K-dub,” Winslet told Vanity Fair. “People just call me K-dub, and he started it.” Black would have had no idea he was creating a monster, but considering she made those comments in June 2024, it’s been 18 years and counting that ‘K-dub’ has been patrolling the sets, premieres, and awards shows of Hollywood, so it’s definitely stuck.
Winslet may have never gotten the chance to reunite with Black on another feature, but thanks to his status as the founder of the ‘K-dub’ movement, she’s been carrying a tiny little piece of him wherever she goes ever since. The Holiday didn’t end up getting that sequel so many wanted, and more than a few believed was happening at one stage, but at least the star got a nickname out of the deal.
By the looks of things, it’s going to be a permanent one because any adult who still answers to the moniker given to them by their friends when they were youngsters knows fine well that once a certain number of years have passed, there’s no point in even trying to run away from a nickname; because those things are for life.
