Rudin loses in Oscar tug-of-war over Kate Winslet

Scott Rudin may be regretting his decision to abandon The Reader after yesterday’s Academy Award nominations, which put up the film for five awards, including best picture, best director and leading actress.

Rudin left the project after butting heads with fellow producer Harvey Weinstein about its release date.

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Weinstein had pushed director Stephen Daldry to complete The Reader by Dec. 12, in time to qualify for this year’s awards. But Rudin had resisted because he was promoting two other films which he had produced for this year’s Oscar season, Revolutionary Road and Doubt.

A specific conflict came up with actress Kate Winslet, who in addition to her lead role in The Reader starred in Revolutionary Road, directed by her husband, Sam Mendes. Because an actor is unable to be nominated in the same category for two different films, Rudin wanted Weinstein to delay The Reader’s release to avoid competition.

But Weinstein wouldn’t wait, and the film was completed in time for the 2008 Academy Awards.

Despite a press release from Rudin and Weinstein in September that read, “We are issuing this statement together to emphasize the fact that we are in complete agreement on the date we have chosen to release ‘The Reader,’” Rudin ultimately took his name off the list of producers.

As it turned out, Revolutionary Road ended up with only one nomination in a major category, for actor Michael Shannon’s supporting role.

Though Winslet won the Golden Globe for her role in Revolutionary Road, she did not receive an Oscar nomination for it. She has, however, been nominated for best leading actress in The Reader.

Despite numerous Oscar nominations in the course of his career, Weinstein told the New York Times, “I cried for the first time when I heard this one.”

He attributed his emotional response to the deaths of fellow producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom worked on The Reader, but died before it was released.

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