Kate Winslet's Transformation Into a Philly Local Is Almost Complete

There are few pleasures in life as simple and fulfilling as taking one’s first trip to Wawa. Just ask Kate Winslet, who recently revealed that the first time she walked into the east coast convenience store (and really, it is more than just a convenience store), she felt “honored” to be in such a “mythical” place.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times for their “The Envelope” podcast, the English actress discussed her role on HBO’s Mare of Easttown, in which she plays a Delaware County detective who becomes embroiled in a mysterious case about a dead girl in town. Winslet dedicated herself to the role so much that she subscribed to the local newspaper and, of course, studied the very specific Delco accent. She also took a trip to Wawa to familiarize herself with the locale, and she was not disappointed.

“It almost felt like a mythical place … Wawa,” she said. “By the time I got there, I was like, ‘It’s real!’ Walking into a Wawa ultimately felt like, it was kind of an honor, in a funny way, because to me that was the heart of Delco. So to finally walk through the door of a Wawa; I don’t know why I felt like, ‘Oh, yes, I’m here, I belong. This is where it’s at. Wawa.’”

The actress also told the podcast that she mainly enjoyed Wawa’s coffee, while costar Evan Peters took a liking to the hoagies. “He would say, ’Ugh, you gotta try the Gobbler,” she said about her castmate. “And it was this gigantic sub, basically—or hoagie, this huge hoagie. It’s basically a Thanksgiving meal in a hoagie. He was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I just eat that thing and I pass out.’ And I’d be like, ‘I’m not surprised! I’m not surprised, Evan!’”

For the uninitiated, Winslet was not wrong about her perception of Wawa. Talk to anyone from the eastern half of Pennsylvania or southern New Jersey, and parts of Maryland, and they will tell you just as much. It is not “just” a convenience store, or “just” a gas station, and she gets it, and because she has positioned herself on the winning team in the great Pennsylvania convenience store debate, all is forgiven for her attempt at a Delco accent.