Kate Winslet believed that the small set they used helped them to develop their character's strained relationship. Hailing Winslet as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation", David Edelstein of "New York" magazine wrote that "there isn't a banal moment in Winslet's performance—not a gesture, not a word". To avoid a scheduling conflict with "Revolutionary Road", Winslet turned down an offer to star in "The Reader". After her replacement Nicole Kidman left the project due to her pregnancy, Winslet was signed to it. Directed by Stephen Daldry, "The Reader" is based on Bernhard Schlink's novel "Der Vorleser" and is about Hanna
Kate Winslet leanings who falls in love with her cousin, Jude (played by Christopher Eccleston). Roger Ebert believed that the part allowed Winslet to display her acting range, and praised her for the defiance she brought to the role. After unsuccessfully auditioning for Kenneth Branagh's 1994 film "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", Winslet was cast for the part of Ophelia, the doomed lover of the title character, in Branagh's adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet". Winslet, at 20 years old, was intimidated by the experience of performing Shakespeare with established actors such as Branagh and Julie Christie, saying that the job required a level