10 Actors Who Aren't Afraid To Mock Themselves
3. Kate Winslet's Foul Mouthed Oscar Cynicism - Extras
Ricky Gervais' Extras was often brilliant at sending up actors and subverting their public image. Who could forget Daniel Radcliffe trying to be taken seriously as a sexual being? Or British hardman Ross Kemp showing himself up for knowing absolutely nothing about the SAS or fighting?
One of the standout performances in the series was Kate Winslet, playing herself as an embittered awards also-ran. Meeting Gervais' Andy Millman on the set of her latest film, she confides in him that she's desperate to win an Oscar. Outlining in graphic detail the sorts of roles that the Academy go for, Winslet hopes that her performance as a Nun in a Holocaust movie will give her Oscar gold.
It's a brilliant subversion of the worthiness that often comes from promoting Oscar movies, showing actor's choices to instead be craven attempts to win awards rather than to raise awareness of historical horrors of social injustice. Winslet throws herself into the role, fag in hand, and appears to be having a great time. It would be a few more years until this take on the Oscars would essentially spawn a movie in the form of Tropic Thunder, which handled some very similar themes.