British actress Kate Winslet is to receive an honorary César award at France’s equivalent of the Oscars next month, it has been announced.

Roman Polanski, who directed the 36-year-old in recent release Carnage, will present her with the prize.

French drama Poliss, written, directed by and starring Maiwenn lead the shortlist with 13 nods, including best film and director.

The Minister picked up 11 nods and silent film The Artist was up for 10.

The French silent film, which is one of the leading contenders at this year’s Academy Awards, was re-released in France on Wednesday.

“Don’t forget that the César awards were created in homage to the Oscars,” French Film Academy president Alain Terzian told The Hollywood Reporter.

He added that the Césars symbolically take place in the same weekend as the Oscars.

“It’s an homage I want to permanently pay,” said Mr. Terzian.

He said they are expecting The Artist stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, both up for César acting prizes, to attend the French ceremony, before flying to the US for the Oscars.

The Artist and Poliss will compete alongside The Minister, Declaration Of War, Le Havre and Untouchable in the best film category.

Poliss, about a police child protection unit, was presented with the jury prize at last May’s Cannes Film Festival.

British film The King’s Speech received a nomination in the best foreign film category, and was joined by Black Swan, Drive, The Kid With The Bike, Melancholia and Iranian Oscar hopeful A Separation.

French actor-director Guillaume Canet will preside over the annual awards in Paris on February 24.

Source: BBC News

Director Jason Reitman is gearing up for his next project, Labor Day, which will star Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.

The movie is based on Joyce Maynard’s book of the same name and is set on a late summer Labor Day holiday weekend in the 1980s. It opens with a divorced, depressed single mom (Winslet) who encounters a large, bleeding man (Brolin) while shopping with her 13-year-old. He asks for a ride and against their better judgment, they agree. Meanwhile, they learn that police are searching their town for an escaped convict. The story is mostly told through the eyes of 13-year-old Henry, who spends most of his time daydreaming or watching TV.

As we reported last month, there have been rumors that the movie would be filmed in the Boston area next summer and now, based on the casting call below, it looks like the rumors are true.

Chrystie Street Casting recently issued a casting call for the part of Henry, which Reitman has stressed is crucial to the movie because, “we’ve got to find someone very special.” He has also implied that he has not ruled out using an unknown actor for the role.

But, the casting call also confirms that the movie will be filming in Massachusetts in June. You can check out the complete listing below:

Chrystie Street Casting is casting Labor Day, a feature film. Chrystie Street Casting has cast the films Young Adult, Precious, Shakespeare In Love, Good Will Hunting, Cider House Rules, Pineapple Express, The Wrestler, and 200 other major films, as well as the TV series Pan Am. Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air), dir.; Suzanne Smith Crowley & Jessica Kelly, casting. Shooting begins June 2012 in MA.

Seeking — Henry: boy, 13 years old (submit ages 10-14), Caucasian, a true innocent, has taken over the role of caretaker and protector to his fragile and reclusive mother Adele, an observant boy who understands his mother’s loneliness, but is too young to understand why he cannot entirely fill it, when a new man enters the picture the friend-less Henry is both exhilarated by the relationship and threatened by the prospect that he is no longer needed by his mother, LEAD; Eleanor: girl, 14 years old (submit ages 10-14), Caucasian, a skinny girl, a product of a broken home, newly moved from a big city to live with her father and is already bored with the small town entertainments, an intelligent girl, learned how to get what she wants with wit, calculations, and her newly developed sexual awareness, to Henry she is the mysterious hot girl who seems to know everything about the world that he doesn’t, LEAD; Barry: boy, 15 years old (submit ages 12-17), Caucasian, mentally challenged, could be Down’s Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy, the wheelchair-bound son of Evelyn (the lead character’s only friend), can only communicate through gurgles and mumbles, is perhaps more engaged in the world around him than his mother realizes, seeking actors who have either condition described above, supporting role.

To be considered, e-mail recent pics, age, and contact info as soon as possible to labordaycasting@gmail.com. No phone calls. Professional pay provided. SAG Film Agreement.

Source: Backstage

Kate Winslet is attached to star in The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, which Kenneth Branagh is set to direct for Fox 2000.
This reunites Winslet with Branagh for the first time since she played Ophelia in his bigscreen Hamlet in 1996.

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society is adapted by Don Roos from the bestseller by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

It’s a love story set in the London and the Channel Islands after WWII. Winslet will play a magazine columnist who enters into a correspondence with a man from Guernsey, and learns how the islanders used a book group during the war as cover to outwit their German occupiers.

Captivated by their stories of the occupation, and how the books came to influence their lives, she decides to travel to Guernsey herself, a journey that changes her forever.

In a recent interview with Variety, Branagh described the project as “a beautiful romance, very touching and uplifting.”

The project is being produced by Paula Masur and Mitchell Kaplan, with Branagh’s regular partner David Barron. Shooting is scheduled for March, according to the Daily Mail.

The book was first published in the U.S. in 2008. It was the first and only novel by Mary Ann Shaffer, an editor and librarian, whose niece Annie Burrows helped her finish it when Shaffer became terminally ill. Shaffer died aged 74 a few months before the novel was published.

Source: Variety

The Titanic star landed her big break in the movie and she chronicled her time on the set with co-stars Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in a diary.

Rickman tells the New York Times, “Kate wrote a book about the film and there are some quotes in there about Ang’s occasionally lose grasp of English. We’d get notes that left you kind of staring.

“I remember he said to Emma once, ‘Emma, try not to look so old’. That was a little shattering for her but she knew to translate that as ‘don’t be so knowing’. Mine was, ‘Alan, be more subtle, do more’, which we worked out that he meant do more of the subtle stuff.”

But Winslet had it harder than most on the set. Her co-star recalls, “Kate was only 19 at the time and he said, ‘Kate, never mind, you’ll get better’.”

Source: Hollywood

Kate Winslet won Best Actress at the Satellite Awards on Sunday, December 18, for Lead Actress in a TV Movie or Mini Series for her incredible performance as the title role in Mildred Pierce.

Many congratulations, Kate! Well done once again!

Kate has been nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role in Carnage and also for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for her role in Mildred Pierce, which was also nominated for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Also, Kate’s Carnage co-star Jodie Foster is nominated in the same category as Kate.

And last but not least, Kate’s Mildred Pierce co-stars Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel wood were also nominated!

Double congratulations to Kate! And congratulations to Jodie, Guy and Evan as well!

The SAG Award nominations, announced Wednesday, feature the stars of the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. Kate Winslet is up for Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries and Guy Pearce for Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Both have already received Emmy Awards for their performances as Mildred Pierce and Monty Beragon, respectively.

Congratulations to both Kate and Guy!

The nominations for the Satellite Awards were announced today with Kate Winslet receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance as Nancy in Roman Polanski’s Carnage.
Kate’s co-star Christoph Waltz is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Congratulations on your nominations, both Kate and Christoph!