Oscar Preview: The Consummate Professional – Kate Winslet

Every week from now until the critics groups start giving out their prizes for the best of the year, I’m going to be spotlighting the big Oscar players and their chances at Oscar glory this year.

Trying to spread the love between directors, actors, writers and other players in Hollywood, I thought I’d take time this week to cover one of the most nominated actresses currently working: Kate Winslet.

Winslet began her career in acting on the small screen in 1991 at the age of 16 in a short-live series called Dark Season. Through 1993, she appeared in small parts in three other television series before making the transition to the big screen in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures in 1994. At 19, the film would launch her into stardom as one of the top young actresses working then and now. Starting out in an independent film instead of a big budget blockbuster has enabled her to straddle the comfortable line between populism and critical success as she would prove the next year by starring in both the kid-friendly, box-office targeted flick A Kid in King Arthur’s Court and the small costume drama Sense and Sensibility. It resulted in her first Oscar nomination for only her third feature.

Her next two films were undeniably small as neither made much of a dent at the box office, but in 1997, she set sail on the voyage of a lifetime as the fictional lead character in James Cameron’s chart-topping blockbuster Titanic. The film became one of the highest grossing films of all time and earned Winslet her second Oscar nomination opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

To prove she hadn’t abandoned her indie roots, she took on a role in the film Hideous Kinky the next year. As her career stretched on, she didn’t follow the clarion call of the big paycheck and remained true to her identity as an actress, not as a poseur. With roles in small, indie dramas such as Quills, Iris and Little Children, she always kept an eye on blockbusters, picking out productions that would not only do well with moviegoers, but had roles that were challenging as witnessed in her Oscar-nominated work in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and in the Best Picture Oscar nominee Finding Neverland.

The roles Winslet chooses, even if in critical disasters (The Life of David Gale, All the King’s Men), she chooses roles that are interesting, never allowing herself to become the bitter, jaded Oscar nominee. In 2008, she took the chance with two Oscar-caliber roles in Revolutionary Road and The Reader. Many thought she’d be that rare breed of a single-year double nominee, but instead of taking The Reader into support where it belonged and Revolutionary Road, one of her best performances to date, in lead, she was pushed into lead for The Reader. In the end, it worked out, she took home her first Oscar in six nominations for her work in the Holocaust-themed film.

Once again, this year shows how willing she is to take on characters in blockbusters and indie flicks. She started off the year with Steven Soderbergh’s ensemble drama Contagion and she’ll finish of the year in the adaptation of the Tony-nominated play God of Carnage in the film titled simply Carnage. And on top of her Emmy win last night for Mildred Pierce, she could be on a hot streak.

Contagion

Anytime Steven Soderbergh turns his camera on ensemble dramas about important social message, the Academy tends to take notice. Although his last major flirtation with Oscar was 2000’s Traffic, Contagion has many of the same stylistic flourishes and ensemble compatibility that Traffic did. Traffic faced a much lighter list of competition in 2000 than Contagion faces today. On top of that, a pandemic isn’t exactly Oscar-friendly material; however, it’s proven to be a popular film at the box office and features several prominent Oscar-nominated actors, any of whom could earn a surprise acting nomination. It isn’t Winslet’s best chance at a nomination, but it could bolster her chances for her other entry this year.

Forecast Categories (where the film is most likely to compete): Picture, Director, Actor (Matt Damon), Supporting Actor (Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law), Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard), Original Screenplay, Original Score, Editing, Cinematography, Sound Mixing.

Carnage

This ensemble drama has a bigger potential multiple acting nominations than any other film this year. That’s largely because the four-player cast is all Oscar nominated and three of Academy Awards. On top of the reputation the play has in the Tony world where it won a handful of prizes, it could be a strong contender this year. Add in the fact that Oscar winner Roman Polanski is at the helm and his late-in-life career is beginning to rival that of Clint Eastwood, and you have a recipe for strong consideration in many places including four nominations for acting and possibly even a chance at some wins.

Forecast Categories (where the film is most likely to compete): Picture, Director, Actor (Christoph Waltz), Actress (Jodie Foster), Supporting Actor (John C. Reilly), Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Editing, Cinematography.