Kate Winslet [5·Oct·1975]
One of my favorite actresses turns 37 today! Everyone that knows me knows how much I love and admire this woman. She is the epitome of talent, elegance and style. The best actress of her generation, she’s like the love child of Grace Kelly and Meryl Streep, and, in a career of two decades, she’s already garnered a record-setting six Oscar nominations.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England on October 5th, 1975. Happy birthday, Kate!
Please enjoy this fantastic video that reminded me why I love the Oscars so much. As Hanna Schmitz in The Reader, Winslet won her much-delayed first Academy Award.
Great actress Fermando. It took me some time to warn to her as I hadn’t seen much of her before Titanic (you know how I feel about that movie). However as time went on I really warmed to her. My favourite performance of hers has to her fouled mouthed character from Romance & Cigarettes. Simply superb.
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I saw that one a couple years ago and, honestly, I don’t remember it. Only that Winslet looked great. My favorite performance of hers is in Revolutionary Road (also my favorite Leo DiCaprio performance).
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Winslet did indeed look amazing. Although that’s my favourite, I totally agree on Revilutionary Road (and DiCaprio) they were both outstanding. Another good one was Eternal Sunshine…
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Don’t forget it’s Guy Pearce birthday too! And the 50th anniversary of “Dr. No”!
I’d have to say my favorite performance by Winslet was in Titanic. I haven’t seen much of her, though, and much of her filmography has been on my list for a while, i.e. The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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I had no idea it was Guy Pearce’s birthday as well. Happy belated birthday to him! And I knew that yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Bond on the big screen, which I think is a fantastic achievement, but I’m not the biggest Bond fan out there. I think I’ve seen like 3 Bond movies.
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I’ve seen all 22. Adele’s “Skyfall”, the title theme from the upcoming 23rd Bond film, was released yesterday at 0:07 British time 😉
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All 22, with the exclusion of the two “non-Eon” films: Casino Royale (the 1967 spoof that’s supposed to be really dumb, but I kinda want to see it because Woody Allen plays “Jimmy Bond”) and Never Say Never Again (which has Sean Connery in his only unofficial Bond role).
Which three did you see, or do you not recall?
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Yes. I’ve heard it. It’s fantastic. Even though, like I said, I’m not the biggest Bond fan out there, I’m really looking forward to Skyfall. It’s directed by Sam Mendes, and it stars Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw, plus the theme song is by Adele. I AM SO THERE.
The only ones I’ve seen are Die Another Day, Casino Royale (which I LOVE) and Quantum of Solace.
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Yeah Casino Royale is my favorite of all 22 movies, and Craig is my favorite Bond, even though I didn’t really enjoy Quantum of Solace all that much. I vaguely remember reading articles that dubbed Die Another Day “Buy Another Day” because of the excessive product placement. For the 20th film and the fortieth anniversary, it’s pretty sub par.
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I’ve only seen Brosnan and Craig, so the latter is, BY FAR, my favorite Bond. I loved Casino Royale, and Quantum was a big step down from that one, but still much better than “Buy Another Day” haha. I wish they step it up with Skyfall.
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Oh yes, if you’ve only seen the two most recent Bond actors, it should be quite obvious that Craig is your favorite! Brosnan isn’t all that great. I loved his GoldenEye, then he just fell flat.
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Love Winslet, done some great films that I’ve very much enjoyed (and the odd one that I’ve thought wtf are you doing in this? haha).
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Haha, yes, that’s true. She’s amazing every time, though. And one of my favorite Winslet performances is in The Holiday, which I think it’s her lowest rated movie (I’m a sucker for Nancy Meyers).
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I really like her a lot, but I wish she got her Oscar for Revolutinary Road, which was less Oscar-bait of a performance. Golden Globes got this right that year, I still don’t get what happened there with all the category change at the Oscars.
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Yes, I agree. That’s my favorite Winslet performance (also my favorite DiCaprio). I guess they thought she had a better chance at winning for The Reader so that’s why they chose to push her supporting performance into the Lead category. Whatever the reason, it worked.
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Winslet was incredible in The Reader. Streep and Jolie also impressed me that year (I didn’t think Jolie could act). I wonder, though, would other actresses had been nominated (or won) if they had been selected for the role of Hanna Schmitz?
Those reportedly considered included such names as:
Nicole Kidman
Juliette Binoche
Marion Cotillard
Naomi Watts
I often wonder whether it is the role which is more important, or the actor.
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Sometimes it’s the role, sometimes it’s the performance, sometimes it’s the actor or actress (and the award is long overdue, like with Winslet or Jimmy Stewart).
The year she won the Best Actress category was just fantastic. Any of the other nominees could’ve taken it.
Nice trivia there, Steve. It would’ve been very interesting to see any of those actresses as Hanna. Maybe not Marion Cotillard, she’s too young for the role.
I wish she’d gotten the award for Revoluitionary Road. Same goes for Leo DiCaprio.
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Great post on a great actress.
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Thanks! She sure is something!
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Ah, I love Kate Winslet. Not just because she’s British. I think my love for her started when she complained about a magazine air brushing her wobbily bits. She’s beautiful and doesn’t need air brushing in the slightest! My favourite of her films are probably Little Children, The Reader (wonderful performance and completely deserved of best actress!), Heavenly Creatures and, guilty pleasure time: The Holiday. Nothing better than a good Christmassy film!
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I love her too, clearly. She’s a great actress and an icnredibly beautiful woman, with a fantastic body so yeah, I don’t get why a magazine would airbrush her. I liked Little Children (but prefer the book), I liked The Reader as well, but I would’ve been happier if she got the Oscar for Revolutionary Road instead. Still, I was ecstatic. That Oscar was long overdue. Oh man, and I love The Holiday. It’s required Christmas viewing. It has a rotten RT score but I just adore it. I can’t resist Nancy Meyers and that cast. Plus, I’m all about the Christmas cheer.
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