Did Work Drive Kate Winslet, Sam Mendes Apart?

Sources close to the couple say marriage suffered after "Revolutionary Road."

ByABC News
March 16, 2010, 6:43 AM

LONDON, March 16, 2010 — -- A day after Oscar-winner Kate Winslet and her director-husband Sam Mendes announced plans to divorce sources close to the couple said the marriage began to suffer after the two worked together on "Revolutionary Road," a film about a marriage torn asunder.

A source close to Winslet and Mendes told British tabloid The Daily Mail that "Things were extremely rough to say the least recently. Things went downhill after 'Revolutionary Road.'"

In "Revolutionary Road," Winslet played a bored suburban housewife married to Leonardo DiCaprio. Mendes directed the two, who first starred together in "Titanic," in a racy sex scene.

Upon winning a Golden Globe for her role in "Revolutionary Road," Winslet thanked Mendes, whom she affectionately called "babe."

"Thank you for directing this film, babe, and thank you for killing us every single day and really enjoying us actually being in such horrific pain," she said. "But I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that I loved every second of working with you, and it's made me love you more."

At the time of the film's release, Mendes told the British newspaper The Times, "We are very happy, but obviously there is a cathartic aspect of making a movie about a bad marriage. Put it this way: The last thing you want to do when making a fight film is to go home and have a fight. So here is the opportunity for getting it out without having to live it."