Why Kate Winslet Keeps Her Oscar Statue in the Bathroom

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet has done a lot over the course of her career. Since coming to prominence for Heavenly Creatures, she has gone on to star in films ranging from art house to big blockbusters, including one of the highest grossing films in history with Titanic. Among her bigger achievements is that she became the youngest person to receive six Oscar nominations. Despite this acclaim, she has only won once, which was Best Actress for director Stephen Daldry's The Reader, in which she played an illiterate Nazi. With this Oscar season looking to be a potential nomination thanks to director Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, it seems appropriate to hear that she's in the news again. This time, she's talking about where she keeps her Oscar statue: in her bathroom. The reasons are as comical as you think they are.

In Defense of "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" (2011)

Thomas Horn

When it comes to cinema related to September 11, 2001, there's one very common complaint: director Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the worst. Not the worst in the sense that it gets the facts wrong or develops its own conspiracy. It's the worst because it is manipulative to a fault. True, the story of a child who is sort of nagging trying to maneuver New York following his father's death does reek a little of over-sentimentalizing. However, I want to bring a different argument to the table. It's one that I'm sure won't win over everyone but is essentially why I have trouble calling it out as garbage. It may not be the best 9/11 movie, but it's one that I feel connects with me for a deeper and more personal reason.

Birthday Take: Stephen Daldry in "The Hours" (2002)

Nichole Kidman in The Hours

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Oscar Darling Daldry is Back with the First "Trash" Trailer

Rooney Mara

If there is one thing that Oscar aficionados know, it is that the Academy has a love affair with director Stephen Daldry. To the average film goer, he is just another name. To those that have paid attention to trends, he is one of a very small group of people who have had every single one of their films in the Best Picture race. Not since John Cazale has someone had such an impressive record. With his fifth film, Trash, things are looking to remain the same. Except this time, it looks to be a lot more hard hitting, intriguing, and aggressive than anything that he's done before. To say the least, Trash will likely keep Daldry's record strong.