Nicole Kidman might have won another Oscar if she starred in the acclaimed feature The Reader. But fears over her pregnancy caused the actor to back out of the project.
Kate Winslet originally lost her Oscar-winning role in ‘The Reader’ to Nicole Kidman
Winslet delivered one of her most critically acclaimed film performances with the film The Reader, which was directed by Stephen Daldry. The movie saw Winslet playing Hanna Schmitz, who would stand trial after being accused of a Nazi crime post-World War II. Winslet heard about the book the film was based on many years before The Reader hit theaters.
“The role, the character, the novel first came to my attention six years ago, when I was pregnant with our son Joe,” Winslet once said according to The Diva Review. “I read the book and I was 27 at the time, and I was absolutely gripped and compelled and ultimately devastated by the novel and immediately thought, ‘Oh, well, somebody must be making this into a movie. I wonder who’s going to play Hanna Schmitz?’”
Back then, however, she thought she was too young for the part.
“At the time I was 27, and 27 and 32– I don’t know, that seemed like such a big gap. Years later, in April of last year, when Stephen wanted to talk to me about this, I was so shocked. My immediate thing was, ‘I can’t play that part! I’m too young. Well, wait a minute. I am that character’s age now. My God,’” she said.
But Winslet would find out she wasn’t able to do the film anyway because she was already scheduled to do Revolutionary Road. After Winslet dropped the project, Nicole Kidman would end up being cast in the lead role for The Reader.
Nicole Kidman gave up an oscar-winning role out of concern for her unborn child
Kidman wasn’t a part of The Reader for long. The actor was about to welcome a new member to her and Keith Urban’s family. And this eventually interfered with her plans to do the project.
“I got pregnant and I was meant to do The Reader. And they said, ‘Oh, can you still do it?’ But I cannot work pregnant. The way I would, it would penetrate my baby,” Kidman once told Daily Mail.
This was consistent with the actor’s philosophy, who was willing to walk away from the film industry for the sake of her family.
“I know now what I probably didn’t know in my 20s. I would absolutely know now that I would always choose the sanctity and sacredness of my family, and if that was ever in jeopardy, no question,” she added.
The Reader would eventually circle back to Winslet. After slight scheduling adjustments were made, Winslet was able to do both Reader and Revolutionary Road.
Why Kate Winslet keeps her Oscar in the bathroom
Winslet finally won an Oscar for Best Actress after several nominations over the years. After winning the prize, the actor thought it best to keep the award in the bathroom. Doing so provided her some entertainment whenever guests would stumble onto her Oscar after using the bathroom.
“The whole point is for everybody to pick it up and go, ‘I’d like to thank my son and my dad’—and you can always tell when someone has, because they’re in there a little bit longer after they flushed,” Winslet once told WSJ (via Variety). “They’ll come out looking slightly pink-cheeked. It’s hysterical.”
