Kate Winslet wanted a Holocaust Oscar

I heard a fascinating commentary on NPR’s “Day to Day” in December in which critic Andrew Wallenstein remarked that good intentions aren’t the only motivation behind Holocaust films, which in 2008 came out en masse just before year’s end. Wallenstein referenced Kate Winslet’s performance in the above sketch, in which two movie extras commend her for a her role in an upcoming movie about the Holocaust

“I don’t think we need another film about the Holocaust,” Winslet says. “It’s like how many have there been? We get it; move on. No, I’m doing it because I’ve noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust, guaranteed an Oscar.”

Winslet, of course, won an Oscar Sunday for best leading actress in “The Reader,” a film, not coincidentally, that deals with the Holocaust.

(Thanks for the video, Mollie.)