NYT Syndicate Launches 'Times Talks' Series with Kate Winslet Interview

By: E&P Staff The New York Times Syndicate has introduced its "Times Talks" series, which promises exclusive interviews -- available as text or as videos -- featuring New York Times journalists and editors in conversation with innovators in literature, television, film and music.

In the first installment of its "Times Talks" series, the Times? Lynn Hirschberg chats with Academy Award nominee Kate Winslet about about her struggle to make it as an actor and how she dealt with sudden fame, balancing her life as a movie star with the obligations of having two children, selecting roles, doing nude scenes, and other topics.

Here?s an excerpt:

Q: Who do you act for?

A: "I have been asked that question by Kenneth Branagh when I was 20 and I played Ophelia in his film version of 'Hamlet.' And the first day of rehearsal, everybody sat 'round in a circle cross-legged on the floor, and all I'm thinking is, 'Oh my God, he's going to do trust exercises. I know it.' And I'm panicking. ... And, lo and behold, he went 'round the circle, and said, 'I'd like to know: Who do you act for?'

"And I was just last in the ring. So you can imagine my mounting anxiety. You know, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi and all these extraordinary actors ... Ken. And every single person said either a parent or a loved one who had passed away. And I'm sitting there thinking, 'I know what I want to say, but I'm going to wait for somebody else to say it first.' And nobody did. And it got round to me, and Ken said, 'OK, Kate, so who do you act for?' And I looked him right in the eye and I thought, 'It's a risk, but I'm going to say it.' I said, 'I act for myself.'

"And it's really true. ... It's not a selfish thing. I do it because I really love it and I really need it. And it's only in the last few years that I'm able to kind of sit back and say, 'OK, that was my calling, then.'I can only really admit that to myself now."

To purchase the Kate Winslet "Times Talks" article or videos, visit nytsyn.com.