British actress Kate Winslet is nominated for an Oscar with big chances of winning it this year but the 33 year-old mother of two is still very down to earth and modest. In the best shape of her life, Kate had two major movies out this year, “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road“, for which she received critics’ praises.

Here are some highlights of Kate Winslet’s Los Angeles Magazine interview:

On the first movie she ever saw: I think it was Annie. Closely followed by Bugsy Malone. I’m that kid. I always wanted to be in those films. It wasn’t a fantasy about being in the movie but wondering what it would be like with those splurge guns, or to have tap-danced in the orphanage. But I never had an aspiration to be a movie star. I swear to you, that never occurred to me as a legitimate dream. To me, acting and being in the movies were entirely separate things. Being in movies was something that happened to Judy Garland. Not Kate from Reading. It didn’t enter my world at all.

On what in movie making captures her the most: I love planning the scenes and sketching things in my head and hoping to hit certain beats. You can have an idea of how a scene will play out, but there is nothing like stepping onto a film set and seeing everything come out in a completely surprising way. The trick as an actor is being brave enough to let that be the way it is and not try to put it back in the box you thought it would be. Sometimes that’s tremendous fun. Sometimes it’s severely painful because you’re surprised by the emotions it’s bringing up in you. It’s extraordinarily challenging, and I really love it.

On if her daughter, Mia, knows what she does for a living: She does, and she’s intrigued by our jobs. I’m so much in the public eye, I want her to understand where that comes from, that it’s from my passion, something I love to do, so she doesn’t resent it or have funny feelings about it. So she understands on a positive level as opposed to anything potentially negative.

On what scares her: You can’t be so selfish as to be scared. You can’t do that to the other actors, and you can’t do it to the character. Yes, you can be nervous and you can turn to the other actor and say, “I’m really shitting myself—what if I don’t get it right?” But then you have to get it gone straightaway. No matter how many times you’ve done it before or how well oiled a machine you may feel, it’s a daily struggle to not be afraid.

On love scene with an 18 year old in The Reader: My biggest concern was that David physically understood what was going to happen. On the day I said, “I’m going to talk you through this, OK? We’re going to be completely naked. I will have a bathrobe by my side, and you’ll have one right by your side. If you at any point can’t reach your bathrobe, I will give you mine. You need to know there will be a maximum four people in the room.” He was like [she assumes a precise German accent], “Really, oh, my Gott, what about all these crew and these other people?” I said, “They’re going to be a million miles away, don’t you worry. It will just be me and you, and I promise we will be laughing about this.” He said, “Oh, I can’t imagine laughing about this.” I said, “I swear to you.” Within the first hour we were giggling.

[images: BackseatCuddler]