Kate Winslet: 'Blonde and boobs initially got in the way of Steve Jobs role'

Kate Winslet won the role of Steve Jobs' right-hand woman Joanna Hoffman in director Danny Boyle's new biopic by convincing film bosses she was more than "blonde and boobs".

The British star was working with Jobs' make-up artist Ivana Primorac in Australia when she discovered Boyle was casting the film, and decided she'd like to be a part of it.

But despite her Oscar-winning pedigree, she didn't seem to be able to interest Boyle and producer Scott Rudin - and then she figured her look might be getting in the way.

She tells the Daily Mail, "I couldn't get hold of a script. For some reason they had mental blocks and couldn't get beyond my blonde hair and boobs and see me in the part.

"I look nothing like Joanna. She has dark hair and glasses. We're very different. That shouldn't have been a problem because actors transform themselves in films all the time. But blonde and boobs were getting in the way."

So Winslet transformed herself, adding, "I put on wigs, had a bit of make-up done and shot selfies that I pinged over to the producer Scott Rudin. I thought, 'That's probably blown it...!' They were cheap acrylic wigs, but at least I wasn't blonde in them'."

Her plan worked and Boyle jetted to Melbourne to meet the Titanic star.

She recalls, "Danny looked me in the eye and said, 'I want you to play this part'. It all happened very quickly after that."