Kate Winslet might play Evan Rachel Wood's mother in HBO's Depression-era miniseries "Mildred Pierce," but on set, she helped Wood do things that most mothers wouldn't. Like fully disrobing for the camera.

"She was very nervous actually," Winslet says. "I remember doing my first full-on nude scene when I was 19, and I was absolutely terrified, so I knew how she felt."

The scene comes at a crucial moment of the five-part series, which premieres Sunday on HBO. So Winslet encouraged Wood to think of getting naked as an 芝居 challenge, testing herself to see if she could get the viewer to focus...