Kate Winslet's Oscar Night Acceptance Speech

CATEGORY: Performance by an actress in a leading role

SPEECH BY: Kate Winslet
FILM: "The Reader"

Okay, that fainting thing, Penelope. I'd be lying if I hadn't made a version of this speech before, I think I was probably eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror. And this (holding up her statuette) would've been a shampoo bottle. Well, it's not a shampoo bottle now!

I feel very fortunate to have made it all the way from there to here. And I'd like to thank some of the people along the way who had faith in me, my friends and my family, especially my mum and dad, who are in this room somewhere. Dad, whistle or something, 'cause then I'll know where you are. (He whistles.) Yeah! (Waving to him.) I love you.

I'd also like to thank Hylda Queally, Dallas Smith and the late, much loved, much missed Robert Garlock. And from Peter Jackson and Emma Thompson to my very own Sam and Stephen Daldry. I'm very lucky to have been given Hanna Schmitz by Bernhard Schlink and David Hare and Stephen and working with you is an experience I will never forget. There was no division between the cast and the crew on this film, and that's what made it so special. So, to have been surrounded by a remarkable group of people who provided an unbroken chain of support from David Kross to Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Lena Olin, from hair and makeup to cinematography, from the art department to the ADs, and from New York to Berlin. And I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband and two beautiful children who let me do what I love and who love me just the way that I am.

Anthony and Sydney, this is for you. This is for both of you. And I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees, these goddesses. I think we all can't believe we're in a category with Meryl Streep at all. I'm sorry, Meryl, but you have to just suck that up! And, just to the Academy, thank you so much, my God! Thank you!

Her backstage Q & A:

A. Hi.

Q. Kate, congratulations. You are fantastic. You know that. Thank you very much.

Q. My question is: Do you have any concerns or what your thoughts about your wonderfully portrayed character in the film, people loving that character would show sympathy for a Nazi, uhm, because your character was portrayed so beautifully?

A. I don't have any concerns, you know. I mean, I can't be responsible for the emotional response that an audience has to any film. I don't think any actor really can, and I think going into it, I was very aware that if an audience did feel any level of sympathy for Hannah, and they felt morally compromised as a consequence, that would be an interesting emotion for them to then deal with. It certainly wasn't my intention to make people sympathize with an SS guard.

Q. Kate, over here.

A. Hi.

Q. What is your reaction to the people, and there's some people in Britain who were upset that you were crying in some of your acceptance speeches. And tonight, you did get to show some emotion.Do you think that they're going to start getting on you for that as well?

A. I really don't care. I really don't care. And quite honestly, it makes me very sad that my own country can't be pleased for the successes of their own kind in the way that America really seems to be able to be. So, I really don't care.

Q. Kate, in front. Congratulations.

A. Thank you very much.

Q. Thank you for mentioning Robert Garlack. I want to ask you, you recently said that you were going to give you were going to retire some of the nude scenes, your gutsy nude scenes. Which actor would you like to pass the nude torch to next? Brad Pitt? Leonardo? Who would you like to see it go to?

A. Oh, my gosh.

Q. You have to pick someone?
A. Do I really?

Q. Yes.
A. It's the one time I feel like reaching for my publicist. Do I really have to answer this question? Uhm, I got to go for a woman actually and be really controversial.

Q. Great.
A. Okay, who?

Q. Do you want keep going and we'll come back?

Q. No, no, no, she will never do it?
A. No, I am... no, I am really trying to thinnk of someone.

Q. Angelina?
A. Hang on. Susan Serandon.

Q. Thank you. Well done. In the back.
A. Hi.

Q. From e mails and all the comments we are getting tonight, don't worry, Britain loves you.
A. Thank God for that.

Q. You said about your your dreams from back when you were an eight year old, uhm, I mean, did you ever worry or have nightmares that may be you wouldn't be standing here?
A. Yeah. It's a dream is a dream is a dream. You know, and, uhm, when that dream starts to become a reality, uhm, the nightmare doesn't seem to kick in, and I think I just I just always knew that it was a dream. It was a fantasy that probably would never happen. And so, uhm, it's sort of dawning on me now that I just won an Oscar. It's only starting to sink in right now actually. Oh, my God.

Q. Hi. Congratulations first of all?
A. Hi.

Q. And, uhm, at the nominees luncheon, you said you practiced that face when your name doesn't get called. Did you practice this face tonight?
A. You have no idea how well I practiced that face. It was a good face. I practiced quite considerably, actually. Oh, yeah. You get good at practicing that face.

Q. Hi, Kate Winslet.
A. Baz. Where are you? Hang on.

Q. Okay. Baz, what's the question?

Q. So, Kate I have been covering you since you've been 17.
A. I know you have. That's why I had to come down there.

Q. You were just a little girl from Redding. So, just tell me how this little girl from Redding feels tonight?
A. Like a little girl from Redding. Like a little girl from Redding. Uhm, did you see my mum and dad? Uhm, my mum won a picked onion competition in the local pub just before Christmas, and you know, that was a big deal. And, uhm, the Redding Evening Post sent me a picture of her holding up her jar. Well, Redding Evening Post, there's your next Winslet picture. It's, uhm, it's unbelievable. You just don't think that these dreams that seem so silly and so impossible could ever really come true. And having been here before and lost to be here and win, I've got to tell you, winning is really a lot better than losing. Really a lot better.

Q. Congratulations. All Russian women were for you for years. Every job has a joke with it. So, there was a joke in there. If you remember that. And do you believe in fate? Sometimes we say we dream a lot, and we bring with this dream come true because of our dream. Do you believe that there is a secret in dreaming?
A. Well, look at this. There's got to be. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I do. I think there's a, uhm, I think there's a secret in having some kind of belief in yourself, you know, and you know, I feel like a very unlikely hero here right now. I was not the privileged kid who thinks like this could possibly happen to, and you know, it's yeah. It really is a dream coming true. It really is.

Q. You should joke more often, I think.
A. I should joke more often. Okay.

Q. You've looked so beautiful this whole award season.
A. Thank you.

Q. Who is the designer dress and why did you choose this style and color?
A. This is Yves St. Laurant. Sorry. It's just the fashion questions always really make me laugh. It's Yves St. Laurant. It's gunmetal gray. And, uhm, I just really liked it. Uhm, I just thought it was really elegant. I thought my mum would think it was really pretty. And that is why that is why I wanted to wear it.

Q. Congratulations. Great film.
A. Thank you very much.

Q. On a more serious note, I wanted to ask you what your thoughts were about the situation with the Screen Actors Guild and rejecting the latest offer. Do you think we are headed possibly for a strike?
A. I hope not. I really hope not. And it's not because of the actors here to night, you know, it's not because of us. It's because of people like, uhm, my dad, you know, who really relied on voice overs, and the occasional commercial, and the corporate videos to pay the rent. You know, we can't go on strike because of those people. You know, they they need those small jobs. They need to be allowed to do those small jobs, and get that sometimes very small paycheck in order to raise their families, and I really, really, really hope that we don't go on strike, and I think it's the last thing that everybody needs right now.

Q. Hi over here. Over here. How was it working in Germany with the German costars and the crew in Berlin, you mentioned it in your speech?
A. It was it was absolutely fantastic. I would love to go back to Germany and work again. I have never worked with a more solid group of actors and crew members in my life. They were all completely committed. In a way that was almost startling, you know. These people, I mean, I can put in long hours, but these people were just they would trade sleep to carry on working, and, uhm, there's a lot to be said for that, and, uhm, the atmosphere that this type of work ethic really generates is very, very positive and really healthy I think when you are making a film, I think it is about sticking together as a team and all working towards the same end with no one being more important than anybody else. And this film was really an exception to that rule. It was we were all there sharing a part in pushing this film together. And I would really love to go back to Germany and work again.

Q. Hi Kate.
A. Hi.

Q. Congratulations. What
A. Thank you.

Q. a triumphant amazing evening and also for Revolutionary Road. Everything keep coming your way. I'm so so happy for you.
A. Thank you very much.

Q. What I wanted to ask you was, those films, a lot of sexuality going on in those films especially in the reader, and I wanted to find out your true I would I love your true candid answers. How does that play out with you and Sam. And how and how him directing you and then seeing you, is it just like, you know, because most actors say, oh, you know, it's work it's business it's just hum hum.
A. To be honest with you, the very straightforward answer is he's used to it. You know, he's seen me naked before in met it before forgot sake, so, honestly he's used to it. And the person who was the most professional getting through the intimate moments in Revolutionary Road was Sam. You know, I was pathetic. And, uhm, and he was absolutely brilliant, and just kept saying to me I what re we talking about you've done this so many times before, and I would turn to him and say yes darling but your standing right there, so, isn't it allowed to be a little bit weird and he was just stupid, just get on with it. He was just completely professional so, that's probably a question for him rather than me because as far as I can tell, he's just very accepting of it. Thank you.
A. Thanks, yes.

Photo Credit: Sarah DeBoer/Retna Ltd.

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