the list of 9 for february 23, 2009:
NINE MOVIES IN WHICH KATE WINSLET HAS GOTTEN NAKED
In honor of the somewhat overbearing Kate Winslet's Oscar win last night, I present to you thislist, albeit with the disclaimer that, despite its subject matter (which will surely become the #1search string leading Googlers to this website), I do not find Winslet attractive. I'm not eventhat big a fan of her acting work. But I am intrigued by her consistent willingness to shed herclothes for a role - she's one of Hollywood's few A-list stars to do so, behind only CharlizeTheron and Helen Mirren(!) - and thus, no matter whether you find this list to be snarky,titillating or merely informative, here it is.
- HEAVENLY CREATURES, 1994. This film introduced the worldto two young actresses. The first was Melanie Lynskey, who as many of you know I wound up castingin my first feature on the strength of her performance here. The second was Winslet, who at17 immediately established an openness to onscreen nudity in a couple of bathtub scenes.
- JUDE, 1996. Although her fully-clothed performance inSense and Sensibility made her an Oscar-nominated star who could easily choose from aplethora of non-nude roles, Winslet went full frontal for this middling adaptation of ThomasHardy's Jude the Obscure.
- TITANIC, 1997. It's arguable as to whether Winslet'sfleeting bedroom flashbacks in Kenneth Branagh's 4 hour long Hamlet (1996) count as nudescenes. I say no. Not when you have Titanic the next year, which proved that the MPAA couldindeed be very flexible in handing a PG-13 rating to an R film if it was a $200 million investmentfor two major studios. It is possible that, thanks to this film's phenomenal success, more peoplehave seen Kate Winslet's breasts than any other woman's.
- HIDEOUS KINKY, 1998. Much was made out of Winslet'sdecision to follow up The Biggest Movie in the World with this little-seen British indie,though it didn't prevent her from once more getting her top off in a couple of scenes.
- HOLY SMOKE, 1999. There is a trademark in director JaneCampion's theatrical features: the lead actress always gets naked. As did our Kate, famously ather heaviest, proudly displaying her flesh in a full frontal scene that also involved, well,urinating on herself. Not very alluring - except, perhaps, for a certain type of viewer.
- QUILLS, 2000. Winslet continued her annual streak of, um,streaking with a couple of topless scenes - one as a corpse - in this overrated dramatization ofthe Marquis de Sade's imprisonment.
- IRIS, 2001. In what would be her last nude scenes for awhopping five years, the actress showed off literally everything she had as the young IrisMurdoch.
- LITTLE CHILDREN, 2006. Winslet proved just as willing tobare all in her thirties as she was in her teens and twenties in what I personally feel is heronly great performance since Heavenly Creatures and Sense and Sensibility.My opinion only.
- THE READER, 2008. It was the film that finally won KateWinslet her much-coveted Oscar, after five earlier attempts. (For the record, she got naked infour of her six nominated roles, keeping her clothes on only in the aforementioned Sense andSensibility as well as in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, considered by many ofher fans to be her best work.) Although plenty naked in this film, the actress has gone on recordas saying that she will never do another nude scene again, due to her advancing age (a mere 33 asof this writing). I doubt that, and I'm sure Helen Mirren would agree with me.
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