The Oscar-winning role Kate Winslet refused to play: “She felt unnerved by it”
The Oscars have caused many controversies over the years, but one win had a historical impact on the film industry and changed it for the worse. Harvey Weinstein’s marketing campaign for Shakespeare in Love forever altered Hollywood’s approach to film advertising and awards campaigns.
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, the 1998 film follows a young Shakespeare as he stages a production of Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter, with a woman auditioning for his play and leading to a forbidden romance between the two of them that strangely imitates the story of the play.
However, given how successful it was and its impact on Paltrow’s career, it wasn’t smooth sailing behind the scenes, with the production team going through quite the drama in finding their leading lady.
Paltrow has often accredited Shakespeare in Love as being one of the defining successes of her career, despite the turbulence that she was experiencing in her personal life that almost led her to turn the project down. The actor was going through a highly public breakup with fellow actor Brad Pitt, leading her to initially turn down the script and cause a frenzy at Miramax when casting the lead role of Viola. The actor later explained that the stress of her personal life led her to reject the project without even reading the script, later deciding to take another look at it and unsuspectingly changing the trajectory of her career.
However, after Paltrow first declined the role, the producers were left scrambling to find another suitable actor for the part. The team met with Kate Winslet as a potential option after the British actor had recently skyrocketed towards global fame following her career-making role in Titanic. Despite the fact that she loved the script, Winslet ended up turning it down.
“She read the script and got it completely,” director John Madden recalled. “I had a lunch with her, where she was ecstatic about it. And then a week later, she called up and said, ‘I don’t think I can.’” He then tried to convince her by describing the other people who would be starring in the project, but she still declined, with Madden saying, “She felt unnerved by it, and she stepped out”.
Sometimes, fate has more of a heavy hand in these decisions than we might think, and if Winslet had connected with the project and accepted the part, perhaps Paltrow’s career would not have taken off in the way that it did, with the actor winning an Academy Award for her portrayal of Viola.
After properly reading the script, Paltrow knew that she had to take the role, despite objections from her agent that it was “more of a guy’s part” and the strain of working with Harvey Weinstein, with who the actor had already had several uncomfortable interactions with at this point in her career.
However, the film’s success proved that the challenges surrounding the production were all worth it, even if it became arguably the most undeserving ‘Best Picture’ winner in Oscars history.
