Kate Winslet's Prophetic Joke: Holocaust = Oscar

The Best Actress winner joked on Extras in 2005 that doing a Holocaust film would lead to her first Oscar win

By Breanne L. Heldman Feb 23, 2009 9:28 PMTags

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!

As excited as she was about her big Best Actress win at the Oscars last night, Kate Winslet surely saw it coming. In fact, she predicted only a few years ago that participating in a Holocaust film not unlike The Reader might bring her a little gold man!

In 2005, the much-lauded actress appeared on the comedy series Extras playing herself. When Ricky Gervais' character commends the actress for doing a Holocaust movie, she tells him it has nothing to do with spreading the message.

"I don't think we need another film about the Holocaust, do we?" her character version of herself says. "It's like, how many have there been? We get it. It was grim. Move on. No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust, [you're] guaranteed an Oscar. I've been nominated four times—never won. The whole world is going, 'Why hasn't Winslet won one?' That's it. That's why I'm doing it. Schindler's bloody List. The Pianist. Oscars coming out of their ass!"

Something tells us the statuette wasn't the main reason Winslet signed on to play Nazi guard Hanna Schmitz in The Reader. But perhaps her moment on Extras left a minor impression...