Perhaps the backlash against The Reader started months ago, and I simply wasn’t paying attention. But in the past few weeks, The Reader backlash has reached a fever-pitch. The first major piece criticizing The Reader that I’ve seen came out last week on Slate.com. It was written by Ron Rosenbaum, a prominent scholar of such historical tombs as Explaining Hitler, a book about Adolf Hitler’s propaganda machine and why it worked on the German people.

Just a sidenote: I love Slate, but Rosenbaum is one of my least favorite columnists on that site. He’s very sanctimonious, he tends towards sweeping generalizations and factual discrepancies and at times he can seem like a raving wingnut. He’s brilliant, but he needs a really good editor and fact-checker.

Rosenbaum’s piece, called “Don’t give an Oscar to The Reader” (a bit on the nose, Ron), is very long, so I’m just going to include some of the highlights. His basic argument is that The Reader glorifies the Nazis and the German people who stood by and did nothing, and that the character Kate Winslet plays never really repents for being a mass murderer. He sees the film as part of a new era of “Nazi porn” (his words) and that the film represents the new era of Holocaust denial. One of Rosenbaum’s best points, in my opinion, is that the film tries too hard to create sympathy and empathy for Hanna (Winslet), and that the film should have stuck closer to the book in it’s portrayal of the complicated morality and guilt at play. Here are some of the highlights:

A deeply depressing indication of how the film misreads the Holocaust can be found in a recent New York Times report on the state of the Oscar race. The paper gave disproportionate attention to The Reader by featuring a wistful-looking still of Kate Winslet above the headline “Films About Personal Triumphs Resonate With Viewers During Awards Season.”

What, exactly, was the Kate Winslet character’s “personal triumph”? While in prison for participation in an act of mass murder that was particularly gruesome and personal, given the generally impersonal extermination process—as a death camp guard, she helped ensure 300 Jewish women locked in a burning church would die in the fire—she taught herself to read! What a heartwarming fable about the wonders of literacy and its ability to improve the life of an Auschwitz mass murderer!

I’ve argued that most of the fictionalized efforts [of Holocaust films] either exhibit a false redemptiveness or an offensive sexual exploitiveness—what some critics have called “Nazi porn.” But in recent years, a new mode of misconstrual has prevailed—the desire to exculpate the German people of guilt for the crimes of the Hitler era. I spoke recently with Mark Weitzman, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s New York office, who went so far as to say that The Reader was a symptom of a kind of “Holocaust revisionism,” which used to be the euphemistic term for Holocaust denial.

In this repellent form of revisionism, most Germans (you know, the ones who helped bring Hitler to power, who enthusiastically joined in his hysterical Jew-hatred and his pogroms, who supported his mass deportations “to the East”) were somehow ignorant of the extermination of the Jews going on “in the East.” They presumably noticed the disappearance of the Jews from their midst (since they eagerly stole their apartments and everything valuable the Jews were forced to leave behind). I once confronted a spokesman for the German Consulate on a panel in New York who was pushing a version of this line; he’d referred to a recent poll that purported to show that the majority of Germans alive at the time of the extermination had—surprise!—no knowledge of it.

“What did they think?” I asked him. “The Jews all decided to go on vacation and forgot to come home?”

[One] of the most damning documents I uncovered in researching my book Explaining Hitler was a revelation that appeared in a Munich anti-Hitler newspaper, the Münchener Post, on Dec. 9, 1931. It had been lost to history until I found it in the basement of a state archive. The courageous reporters of the social-democratic paper had gotten hold of a secret Nazi Party plan for the disposition of the Jews that first used what was to become the widespread euphemism for extermination: “Final Solution” (Endlössung), a word that left little doubt over the mass murder it euphemized. [It’s] clear Germans could have known as early as 1931 (or 1926 if they’d bothered to read Mein Kampf).

They could have known if they’d read about the legal dehumanization of Jews in the Nuremberg laws of 1935 or the state-sponsored pogroms after Kristallnacht in 1938. And if they happened to be illiterate as in The Reader… they could have heard it from Hitler’s mouth in his infamous 1939 radio broadcast to Germany and the world, threatening extermination of the Jews if war started. You had to be deaf, dumb, and blind, not merely illiterate, to miss what Kate Winslet’s character seems to have missed (while serving as a guard at Auschwitz!). You’d have to be exceedingly stupid. As dumb as the Oscar voters who nominated The Reader because it was a “Holocaust film.”

But that’s what The Reader is about: the supposedly difficult struggle with this slowly dawning postwar awareness. As Cynthia Ozick put it in her essay: “After the war, when she is brought to trial, the narrator ['Michael Berg'] acknowledges that she is guilty of despicable crimes—but he also believes that her illiteracy must mitigate her guilt. Had she been able to read, she would have been a factory worker, not an agent of murder. Her crimes are illiteracy’s accident. Illiteracy is her exculpation.”

Lack of reading skills is more disgraceful than listening in bovine silence to the screams of 300 people as they are burned to death behind the locked doors of a church you’re guarding to prevent them from escaping the flames. Which is what Hanna did, although, of course, it’s not shown in the film. As I learned from the director at a screening of The Reader, the scene was omitted because it might have “unbalanced” our view of Hanna, given too much weight to the mass murder she committed, as opposed to her lack of reading skills. Made it more difficult to develop empathy for her, although it’s never explained why it’s important that we should.

That’s the metaphoric thrust of the Kate Winslet character’s “illiteracy”: She’s a stand-in for the German people and their supposed inability to “read” the signs that mass murder was being done in their name, by their fellow citizens. To which one can only say: What a crock! Or if Hollywood has its way: Here’s your Oscar.

The nudity…gives new meaning to the word gratuitous. [It] was a manipulative tool used to create intimacy with and thus empathy for an unrepentant mass murderer.

From Slate – Ron Rosenbaum’s “Don’t give an Oscar to The Reader”

Even before this controversy, there was little chance that The Reader or director Stephen Daldry would win Oscars, but The Reader’s executive producer, Harvey Weinstein, has been waging a tough and expensive campaign for Kate Winslet as Best Actress. Ron Rosenbaum’s column is one piece of an organized backlash against the film, and the Rosenbaum piece is being distributed around Academy voters in the hopes of destroying Winslet’s chance at an Oscar. The Sunday Telegraph has a piece out about the backlash, and how Academy voters are being encouraged to vote for Meryl Streep in Doubt.

I adore Kate Winslet, and I tend to think she’s due an Oscar – this is her sixth nomination, with no wins. She’s one of the best actresses working today, but I have to admit, this might not be her year, again. Meryl Streep’s performance in Doubt was flawless and that film was much less controversial. Considering it’s been 25 years since Meryl last won an Oscar, I have to say that she’s due as well.

Kate Winslet had a new interview air on Dateline last night. She was typically outspoken and unapologetic about it, and that’s why we love her. Winslet has been looking amazing as she promotes her films and heads to the Oscars this year, but body image is still a big issue for her. As a mother, she thinks it’s important to get out the message to young girls that all the magazines are airbrushed and that women don’t really look that flawless. She also says that she doesn’t know a woman who doesn’t check their butt before they leave the house. I swear I don’t do this. I do put on makeup and do my hair and stuff, but have I lost the will to look good if I don’t check my ass? I think I’ll probably start doing it just to join Winslet’s club.

“I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t stand up and check the tushie before she walks out the door,” she said. “I’ve decided I am going to start loving my backside, really just saying, yes. Because I don’t know anyone who does that, you know? And for my daughter, I want to be able to say to her, I love this.

“[Young women] look at all of us, myself included, on these magazine covers and they think, ‘my God, how does she get skin like that?’ And I can tell you, I have so many blemishes under this makeup that have been so fabulously covered. I promise you. I promise you,” she said. “But I did realize a few years ago that no one actually talks about this retouching thing. It’s like a secret or something. I’m damned if it’s going to be a secret anymore. I really want these young women to know we don’t look like this.”

[From ABCNews]

Winslet also said that although she’s not going to get all outspoken about it of course she wants to win an Oscar this year. Six time nominated Kate phrased it very low-key, and said “It would be nice to know what it feels like in that situation to win sometime.”

As for criticism of her effusive Golden Globes speech, Winslet quipped “I thought that people just reviewed the films. I didn’t realize that they reviewed speeches, too.” She explained that the win was unexpected and “I was genuinely overwhelmed.”

Winslet said she hasn’t written an Oscar speech yet. She claimed she knew in the past she wasn’t going to win, “but this year I would say I can’t actually tell.”

It looks like it’s between Winslet and Streep for best actress, but it would also be wonderful if longshot Melissa Leo won for Frozen River. Marion Cotillard won last year unexpectedly and this category is kind of wide open again this year. There’s also Anne Hathaway, who took home the Critics Choice Award and gave a much worse speech than Winslet’s. It’s kind of doubtful that Angelina will win. I hope Winslet, Streep or Leo win the Oscar. Kate’s been nominated many times while Streep is a legend and Leo might not get this chance again.

Kate Winslet is shown in Berlin at a photocall, press conference and premiere of The Reader on 2/6/09 with co-stars Ralph Fiennes and David Kross. Credit: WENN

Kate Winslet’s got a lock on the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Reader, but her film Revolutionary Road was snubbed. Still, Kate is a complete professional, and she and her on-screen husband Leonardo DiCaprio have been promoting the hell out of the film, directed by her real-life husband Sam Mendes. The two actors have been spending so much time with each other that Kate’s gotten confused as to who she is actually married to.

British actress Kate Winslet says she spends so much time talking about Leonardo DiCaprio she’s starting to confuse him with her real husband, Sam Mendes.

Winslet is in the U.K. promoting the movie “Revolutionary Road,” which Mendes directed. The film reunites her with her “Titanic” co-star and longtime friend DiCaprio.

The duo’s reunion more than a decade after the melodramatic blockbuster was hotly anticipated, and both have been peppered with questions over whether their on-screen chemistry is still as strong.

Winslet told Britain’s GMTV Monday that DiCaprio “feels more like my husband than my real husband, I have to say. I’m talking about him so much!”

[From The AP Hosted by Google]

Am I alone is sort of wishing Winslet would leave her husband for Leo? Those two really do seem to love each other in a very deep, meaningful way. When Winslet got up to accept her Golden Globe for Revolutionary Road, she cried and spoke directly to Leo, in the audience, saying how much she loved him and how much their friendship has meant. Even Leo looked like he was near tears. Both Kate and Leo have consistently maintained that they are each other’s favorite actors, favorite screen kiss, et cetera. Leo even told Oprah once that Kate is “his girl”.

Russell Crowe, however, is not Kate’s favorite. Fox News is reporting that Winslet was offered the role of Maid Marian to Russell Crowe’s (bloated) Robin Hood. This was the role that Sienna Miller was supposed to play, but Sienna was either pushed out or quit. There were some mutterings about Russell’s intemperate behavior and his rapidly-expanding size.

It’s a war of Kates — or Cates — as the search for Robin Hood’s Maid Marian continues.

I told you the other day about Sienna Miller leaving “Nottingham,” the Ridley Scott directed feature set to star Russell Crowe. The feeling was that petite, young Miller would seem dwarfed on screen by the older, beefier, “Gladiator” star.

Now comes word from sources that Kate Winslet, nominated for Best Actress in “The Reader,” has passed on the role of Maid Marian and the opportunity to spend quality time with Crowe, Scott and pals in the woods.

A new offer has just gone out to Cate Blanchett, I am told, but the answer is likely to come back negative. Blanchett is likely too expensive and too serious to get involved in this venture. An Oscar winner herself for The Aviator in the Best Supporting Actress category, Blanchett also has to set her sight her sights on a Best Actress win. Plus, she already did her action thing with the recent “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

Producers are mulling a back up plan, I’m told, waiting to make an offer to Rachel Weisz. This seems almost perfect, as Weisz may be the right price and just at the right point in her career to have “Nottingham” make a difference in upping her profile. And if she doesn’t take it, my suggestion to the producers is Jennifer Ehle. But no one asked me!

[From Fox News]

Rachel Weisz would be a good choice. I approve. I’m not really eager to see Winslet and Crowe share the screen – I don’t know why, they just wouldn’t seem right together. Probably because she needs to be with Leo!

Here’s Kate and Leo at the UK premiere of “Revolutionary Road” on the 18th. Images thanks to WENN.

Is someone out there trying to create a Hollywood cat fight between Kate Winslet and Angelina Jolie? Kate, in an understandable moment of nerves, forgot Angelina’s name at the Golden Globe awards. Now, the Daily Mail, has chosen to headline their interview with Kate “Thank God I’m not like Angelina: Kate Winslet on motherhood, media, and filming love scenes in front of her husband.”

Do they (her children Mia, 8. and Joe, 5) realise that you’re famous?
No, not yet. And I want them to come to understand it in their own way, when I feel they’re ready. At the moment they think that Mummy’s job is making the voice of a rat in a film [Flushed Away], and that’s great. They don’t watch me on TV.

If I’m on a talk show, I’ll remind Sam to turn the telly off. We don’t have magazines in the house and, if I’m walking down the street with them and I see myself on a film poster, I turn down the other street.

So you have no desire to have your private life paraded in public like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Although I don’t know them, I do think about their situation. They’re like a walking soap opera, and the public wants to know what’s going to happen next. I didn’t choose this profession because I wanted to be famous. I come from a family of actors, who have often struggled, so I always thought I’d be lucky if I even got a job.

I’m grateful for my success because of the freedom it’s given me as an actress. The downside is how much more publicly available you become. I don’t want Mia or Joe to think being famous is about wearing beautiful dresses – if you’re on a red carpet and wearing a fabulous frock, it’s the result of years of hard graft.

How have you coped with media attention?
I’ve learned to deal with it as I’ve got older. I’ve had periods in my life where I’ve been confused and a bit lost, and my self-esteem has been low. But that’s just part of life.

You acquire confidence as you grow up and, as an actor, you have to have it, or you’ll never get a job. When you walk into an audition, they can smell a lack of confidence the minute you open the door.

Daily Mail

At no point does Kate say “Thank God I’m not like Angelina Jolie”. I don’t think Kate is saying that they create the soap opera, but the interest in them is like a soap opera. Kate has had her own time in the media soap, through her divorce, children and remarriage.

I think she’s actually defending Angelina in a way, although she seems to be deliberately avoiding talking about the Jolie-Pitt family directly, by saying that they both come from families of actors, and that the profession involves a lot of hard wark. It’s obnoxious that the Daily Mail feels that Kate Winslet isn’t interesting enough on her own, and headlines the article with Angelina’s name to generate interest.

If there was a catfight between Kate and Angelina, Kate would totally win. Angie might know the moves from her action films, but Kate is just tough.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are shown at the UK premiere of Revolutionary Road on 1/18/09. Credit: WENN

Kate Winslet has received a lot of press over the years, mostly good, for her willingness to take off her clothes for a role. And she always seems so natural when she’s naked on screen. She’s not afraid to look blotchy when she’s crying or to flash her cellulite. She owns her body, and even as she is beginning to age, she still has a beautiful and natural figure that’s hard to ignore. After winning two Golden Globes for best actress in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, Oprah complimented Kate on her natural breasts.

“I love the fact that you have real breasts, ’cause in all the breast scenes, your breasts do what real breasts do,” she said Tuesday on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

“There’s that wonderful thing, you know, if you are a woman, you’re lying on your back, your breasts they go to – they part – but if you look at a woman with not real breasts, their breasts are sticking straight up,” she told the actress, who won two Golden Globes Sunday. “That’s how you know. God bless your real breasts!”

[from Us]

When filming The Reader, Kate refused to use a body double and took a very healthy attitude to baring her body:

The British actress appears naked in her new film The Reader but refused to use a body double or lose weight for the scenes, wanting a completely realistic look for her character.

Describing her own body, Kate admits to having aged, but maintains she is proud of her flawed physique, saying: “Here we go, I have a crumble baby belly, boobs are worse for wear after two kids… I’m doing all right. I’m 33. I don’t look in the mirror and go, ‘Oh, I look fantastic!’ Of course I don’t.

“Nobody is perfect. I just don’t believe in perfection. But I do believe in saying, ‘This is who I am and look at me not being perfect!’ I’m proud of that.”

[from Sydney Morning Herald]

Halle Berry also recently complimented Kate’s body, saying that she wishes she, too, had the guts to get naked on screen more often. Although it’s a bit hard to feel sorry for Halle Berry’s body issues, Kate does offer an alternative to the typical Hollywood look. After having children, most actresses choose to cover up for their roles, go crazy about losing their baby weight, and hire personal trainers. If the tabloids are to be believed, having a baby shouldn’t change your body and if you don’t get down to pre-baby weight immediately, it means that you’re just not trying hard enough. Kate not only speaks out about these standards, but practices what she preaches. It’s hard to imagine the movie industry becoming less body-conscious overnight, but as long as Kate is around, there’s at least one star who has a healthy attitude about weight and body image. Let’s hope she lets it all hang out more often.

Kate Winslet is shown on 1/11/09 at the Golden Globes with her husband, Sam Mendes, and co-star, Leonardi DiCaprio. Credit: WENN

In the first few weeks of this year’s awards season, it seems that everyone already has enough Jolie-Pitt material to freak out about for a lifetime. There was their absence and individual wins at the People’s Choice awards. There was their appearance at the Critics Choice Awards – the losing, the fondling, the alleged “dagger eyes” Jolie sent to Anne Hathaway. Now people are parsing everything Golden Globe-Jolie-Pitt related, including Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech when Winslet won for Revolutionary Road. As she seemed genuinely out of sorts and very excited, Winslet tried to thank her fellow nominees, but temporarily forgot Angelina.

Double Golden Globe winner Kate Winslet says she forgot Angelina Jolie’s name at the ceremony because her ‘mind went blank’.

The Revolutionary Road star apologised to her fellow nominees on stage for winning the Best Actress Award, but forgot the Changeling star.

Kate – who was also awarded the Best Supporting Actress gong for The Reader at Sunday Night’s ceremony – said: “I’m so sorry Anne, Meryl, Kristin – and who’s the other one? Angelina.”

Asked about the incident as she prepared to fly home, Kate tapped her head and replied: “My mind went so blank. It was such an amazing moment.”

Quizzed on her chances of winning an Oscar, the English acctress added: “I have no idea.”

[From The Sun]

People are going to read into this what they will. Personally, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Winslet won an award, she was excited, her mind went blank. I don’t think she was consciously “dissing” Angie. But what do I know? I didn’t think Angelina was making “dagger eyes” at Anne Hathaway either – Angie just looked sort of drunk and bored. Perhaps Angelina heard some of that criticism, though, because even as Winslet forgot her name, Angelina was smiling. With no “dagger eyes”.

Here’s Kate and husband Sam Mendes at the Globes on Sunday. Images thanks to WENN, Fame, and Bauer-Griffin.

Unlike Gwyneth Paltrow’s extreme attitude towards weight control, Kate Winslet has a relaxed and much healthier way of keeping her body in shape. According to a recent interview in Elle, Kate says she doesn’t even go to the gym. Instead, she spends twenty minutes a day doing a pilates DVD, and doesn’t get too crazy with what she eats. And the actress says she genuinely doesn’t understand all the body obsession in Hollywood.

Forget trainers and two-hour gym workouts. Kate Winslet has another secret to her movie-star figure: 20 minutes and a DVD. Winslet, who at 33 is a slim size 6 (UK size 10), tells the UK edition of Elle that “I don’t go to the gym because I don’t have time, but I do Pilates workout DVDs for 20 minutes or more every day at home.”

And, Winslet says, she’s been the same since she had her second child, Joe, five years ago. “I still don’t believe this craziness for being skinny, but I eat sensibly and I don’t stuff down chocolate biscuits,” she tells the magazine in its February edition.

Despite a set of stunning, sexy shots in Elle that show off her body, she is modest about her shape, calling herself “pretty average.” She adds, “I have cellulite, I have a rumply tummy and my boobs have dropped. I did think that post-kids, my sex scenes days were over.”

Far from it. Both her current movies – Revolutionary Road, directed by her second husband Sam Mendes, 43, and costarring Leonardo DiCaprio, and The Reader – contain sex scenes.

[From People]

Kate’s attitude sounds a lot better than other people’s extremes. The press – especially the British press – has always been obsessed with documenting her weight. She’s gone through periods of being a bit heavier than she is now, but Kate’s never been anything close to fat. And she’s been steadfast in her refusal to diet or go to any kind of extreme measures to conform to other people’s ideas of what her body should be. Clearly her focus is on health, not on weight.

Here’s Kate (with Leonardo DiCaprio and husband Sam Mendes) at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Revolutionary Road’ on December 12th. Images thanks to WENN.

Kate Winslet and David Ross in a still from The Reader

Kate Winslet sat down for a lengthy interview with The Guardian a few weeks ago to promote her two new films, The Reader and Revolutionary Road. The parts about Revolutionary Road were a lot of the same quotes she’s been giving over and over… but the part where she and The Guardian journalist get into the plot of The Reader and the main crux of the film’s “love story”, Winslet turns a little weird.

Does Winslet feel that she’s a feminist? “I think I probably am, aren’t I?” Her assistant hurriedly adds, “In a loose, unofficial kind of way,” but Winslet continues to ponder. “I think I probably am. I mean, not in a bra-burning way. But I think I am a feminist, yeah.”

I am relieved by the ease of this exchange, contrasting, as it does, with our shaky opening conversation about her other new film, The Reader. Directed by Stephen Daldry, with a screenplay by David Hare, this is an investigation of guilt and complicity in postwar Germany. It is based on the bestselling book by Bernhard Schlink, and begins in West Germany in 1958, with Winslet playing Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year-old woman who had served as a concentration camp guard, and who starts an intense sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

I tell Winslet that I have read that she likes to sympathise with her characters. “When did you read that interview?” she says. “Which interview was that?”

I gulp, “Well, it was pretty recent – I don’t know, there have been so many.” She agrees. I start to ask whether she was able to find any way to empathise with Schmitz, given the character’s Nazi past, and the fact that her life includes this relationship with this young boy, which, I suggest, by modern standards, would be considered paedophilia on some level. She recoils. “I think you should be careful with that word.” She gives an unconvincing laugh.

“But do you know what I mean?” I say.

“No, actually, not with using that word, I don’t.”

Even given the fact that he’s 15?

“No, I don’t. Not to that extent, no, I have to say, I have to be very, very honest, you know, I think that it’s a very dangerous word to use – that applies to pre-pubescents. Let’s bear in mind that this boy turns 16 in the story, and that’s legal marriage age. And Hanna is led to believe he is 17.” (I didn’t notice this in the film – it’s possible I missed it.) “And the actor himself, David Kross, is 18, you know, he’s an adult.”

I agree and explain I am only talking about her character. She continues. “No, I never, to be honest with you, as a character, and as an actress – obviously the relationship is unconventional, because there is a big age gap between the two of them, and that was how I felt as a person, and I always very much viewed it as an unconventional relationship in that way, and very much as a love story.” She talks a little more about Schmitz, and about the character’s personal secrets, which provide the twists in the narrative, and then, unprompted, says: “You really have to remember that one of the greatest loves of my life, when I was younger, was 13 years older than me, and I was with him for five years, and then he died [I assume she is referring to the writer/actor, Stephen Tredre], and there were 19 years between my grandparents – so, I don’t know, maybe I’ve just never thought age gaps were wildly important.”

[From Guardian.co.uk]

So I actually went to my dictionary and looked up “pedophilia” (the Americanized version) and the definition is simply “sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object”. It doesn’t give the ages of what’s generally considered childhood, so I suppose we must look to legal and societal definitions. In my mind, fifteen is too young to be considered an adult legally or sexually.

Another point that goes unspoken is the reverse sexism of this specific issue. If this was a story about a thirty-something man engaging in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, we would be hearing a lot more – and by more, I mean condemnation and protests. But because the film is about an older woman seducing a young boy, it’s somehow “art” beyond reproach? Is it somehow “feminism”?

I have always loved Kate Winslet as an actress and as a celebrity – she’s insanely talented, interesting, eccentric, down-to-earth and funny. But I think she does a disservice to the under-aged victims of sexual assault and rape by playing these word games. I hope that as she promotes The Reader in the coming weeks, she clarifies this issue.

Photos are stills from The Reader, thanks to All Movie Photo.

Kate Winslet has been doing a lot of press for her upcoming film “Revolutionary Road” with Leonard DiCaprio. She recently admitted that she left her ex-boyfriend, actor Stephen Tredre, when he was dying of bone cancer. Winslet said he broke up with her because he was afraid she was ruining her career by taking care of him. He died before he got to see Kate make it big – right before the premiere of “Titanic.”

Kate Winslet regrets abandoning her dying ex-boyfriend – even though he told her to. Winslet dated actor and writer Stephen Tredre for five years, until he ended their romance in 1997 – fearing her fledgling Hollywood career would suffer if she spent her days caring for him.

After Winslet finished filming Titanic, Tredre died of bone cancer. Kate was not at the premier of blockbuster because she instead attended his funeral in London. But Kate wishes never agreed to Stephen’s wishes.

The actress – who is now married to director Sam Mendes – explains, “Stephen let me go, and that as an act of love from one human being to another was overwhelming.
“When I look back, I wish he hadn’t. I wish I had just been there. To the bitter end. He was gone very quickly and – I still go over those moments in my head.

“I talk about Stephen as if I still love him. But I do. I hope I always will.

“You don’t (get over a death), you learn to live with it. I look back on it… and I still get upset when I talk about it.”

[From Gossip Rocks]

What a heartbreaking story. It doesn’t sound like Kate “abandoned” Stephen so much as he wanted to do what was best for her, and she went with it. Clearly she’s still upset about her decision, but it seems like she’s chosen to look at it in the right light, in terms of it being an amazingly unselfish act on Stephen’s part. I think you could only do something like that if you truly, profoundly loved a person. Nonetheless, I don’t blame her for feeling guilty. It’s hard to match the kind of gift Stephen gave her, and her career really has blossomed. Hopefully Kate will eventually forgive herself – it sounds heartbreaking, and like they both deeply loved each other.

Here’s Kate at the New York premiere of ‘The Reader’at the Ziegfield Theater in New York on December 3rd. Images thanks to WENN.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio gave just about the cutest interview ever to Entertainment Weekly. The two are promoting their film “Revolutionary Road” but ended up talking much more about “Titanic.” What was so adorable is the way they act like brother and sister around each other. Kate pecks a bit over Leo and he has to ask her to recall what films he did and when. It’s very cute, but you can tell it’s also very platonic – which they say is what they’ve always been.

A few excerpts from their interview:

On how lucky they are to work together:
”The thing that is amazing for me is they started off on equal footing and they’re still on equal footing,” says Winslet’s husband, Oscar-
winning director Sam Mendes, who took the helm of Revolutionary Road. ”If you think about Star Wars — there’s an example of a movie that was seismic in the culture at the time — there’s a big difference between what happened to Harrison Ford and what 
happened to Mark Hamill.”

When Winslet talks of luck, DiCaprio bends toward her and barks in a creaky patrician 
accent: ”Key word, dear. Lucky! Keep using it.” She elbows him as if he’s her rascally little brother, and they’re off. Enjoy their banter while you can. ”I think they’ll go on doing a movie together only once every 10 years,” says Mendes.

On their success after Titanic
DICAPRIO: Honestly, it was so bizarre. I just didn’t work for a couple years. I think I did one small cameo? [Looking at Kate]
WINSLET: You did [Woody Allen's] Celebrity.
DICAPRIO: Then I did Man in the Iron Mask, but that was before Titanic had been released. I think?
WINSLET: Yes, you did Man in the Iron Mask and then you did Celebrity.
DICAPRIO: Thank you, Kate! [Laughing] I think it’s hilarious that I need to ask her.
WINSLET: May I? [Reaching over and rubbing her finger over DiCaprio's nose] You’ve scratched the top of your nose! Oh, no, we’re literally doing everything we said we wouldn’t do.
DICAPRIO: I know, this is a little too cute. It’s like out of one of those —
WINSLET: Don’t say it!
DICAPRIO: — one of those scenes from When Harry Met Sally… with the old couples. ”And I met her in the park in 1992! And she was…” ”Eating a hot dog!” ”And I was scratching my butt!”
WINSLET: Oh, my God, and look at me fussing over your face. I’ve literally turned into a combination of your mother, your sister, and, I don’t know what, your wife!

On their relationship:
Speaking of your private life, do you ever look at Kate and just think, ”Damn, she’s the one who got away.” [They look at each other and burst out laughing.]
WINSLET: Say it!
DICAPRIO: [With a weary groan] We’ve always been completely platonic.

[From Entertainment Weekly]

The thing with Leo’s bleeding nose was pretty funny. At one point later in the interview Kate scolds him not to pick at it and tells him he’s rubbing his skin raw. You can tell they’ve remained close friends all these years, and it’s pretty clear they’ve always seen each other in a platonic way. It’s nice to see a case of a man and a woman who can be good friends and nothing more. It’s clear Winslet’s husband respects DiCaprio but definitely isn’t threatened by their friendship. They do have great chemistry together, both on screen and off. Hopefully they really will make a film together every ten years.

Here’s Kate and Leo on the set of “Revolutionary Road” in New York City in February 2007. Images thanks to WENN.