Kate Winslet: 'I Don't Want to Be the Most-Nominated Loser'

Feb. 6, 2009— -- Kate Winslet, who has been nominated for an Oscar six times, says that she "knows what it feels like to lose," and would like to take home the golden statue one day.

"It would be nice to know what it feels like in that situation to win sometime," she told "Nightline" co-anchor Cynthia McFadden when they sat down to talk in Burbank, Calif., earlier this week.

Winslet is nominated for best actress for her portrayal of Hannah Schmitz, a Nazi prison guard in the film "The Reader."

If she doesn't win this year, Winslet will hold the dubious honor of being the most-nominated non-winner.

"I don't really want to be the most-nominated loser, that doesn't kind of sound nice," she said.

"I'm tremendously lucky that in my life, I have received these nominations and got to play these extraordinary parts. But I think this year, more than any other year that I have been aware of, it feels very, very special," she said.

Fellow best actress nominee Meryl Streep said in a recent interview with "Nightline" that in some ways it's more difficult to be nominated and lose than not to be nominated at all. Winslet concurred.

"I would be inclined to believe anything that Meryl Streep says, quite frankly. Just period," Winslett said. "And I do think that is true. I mean, it is hard to lose, actually. ... But having been through it the times that I have done, I have known that I wasn't going to win on those occasions ... you can sort of feel it. You have a radar for it. But this year I would say I can't actually tell."

It has been an extraordinary year for the 33-year-old star. Not only was she nominated for the Oscar for her performance in "The Reader," she also starred in "Revolutionary Road," a film directed by her husband Sam Mendes and made with her "Titanic" co-star and friend, Leonardo DiCaprio. Winslet won Golden Globes for both performances, the first time an actress has won Golden Globes for both best actress and best supporting actress in the same year.

She was so startled to win, she said, that she had no remarks prepared. Her rambling and emotional remarks were widely criticized. Winslet says she was surprised by the reaction to her acceptance speech, which she called "unkind."

"I thought that people just reviewed the films. I didn't realize that they reviewed speeches, too," she said. "I really didn't think I was going to win and I was genuinely overwhelmed."

Asked if she had prepared an Oscar acceptance speech, just in case, Winslet said, "I haven't thought about it because there's so much else going on. ... So, I'm not quite at the point of, OK, if I won, what would I say? I haven't gotten there yet."