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Kate Winslet keeps her Oscar in the bathroom.

The actress - who was given the gong last year for winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as a Nazi war criminal in 'The Reader' - admitted she wanted to keep the statue out of sight so people wouldn't keep asking her about it, but in a place where guests could look at it privately.

She told UK TV show 'GMTV': "People can sneakily have a little hold and put it back down again... because basically everybody wants to touch it, everybody wants to hold it and go, 'Oh, my gosh,' and, 'How heavy is it?' So I figured if I put it in there, then people can avoid the whole, 'Where's your Oscar?' thing."

Just a couple of days after the announcement that Gwyneth Paltrow was joining the already all-star cast of Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, we now learn via The Playlist that erstwhile Morpheus Laurence Fishburne is also in talks to co-star. Expect Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel shortly.*

Sounds like the film is juggling this stonking acting roster by taking on multiple intersecting global plot strands, giving everyone something to do. The script by Scott Z Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!) involves an international pandemic. Fishburne, along with Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslett, Jude Law and Gwynny, would be part of a team of doctors and scientists called on by the Centre for Disease Control. So the dream team start off together, but separate off into their own stories as they take their expertise out into the field.

Soderbergh is knocking this one out in between Knockout and Liberace, and the $60m project has, since we last reported, been picked up by Warner Brothers. Fishburne's involvement does, however, depend on scheduling: he's also got some Predators to fight.

*Not really. But then again...

He racks 'em up and knocks 'em down. Steven Soderbergh is currently at work on Knockout, but before he starts Liberace with Michael Douglas, there's the small matter of global virus threat movie Contagion. As previously reported it's set to star Matt Damon, Kate Winslett, Marion Cotillard and Jude Law. Now Deadline Hollywood are reporting that Gwyneth Paltrow has been added to the starry cast.

We don't know much yet about Contagion, so its tough to speculate about Gwynny's role. But we'll say this: despite the snarky publicity she often gets, she's proved again and again - Royal Tenenbaums, Proof, Two Lovers, Iron Man - that she can be damn good, so we're all in favour of her joining forces with Soderbergh.

Contagion has been written by The Informant's Scott Z Burns, inspired by a discussion about germs on the Informant set. Douglas Adams always said that getting a movie made in Hollywood was like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people come into a room and breathe on it, but it turns out that if someone as much as sneezes around Soderbergh, a film gets made.

Movie News - Actress Penelope Cruz is reportedly in talks to star in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The 35-year-old is said to be negotiating a role opposite Johnny Depp in the fourth film in the swash-buckling franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The fourth movie will be directed by Nine's Rob Marshall and filming will begin in Hawaii in the summer. Jerry Bruckheimer will be producing the movie, which is scheduled for release on May 20, 2011, according to Variety.
Disney have kept details of the film's plot a secret and it is being written by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott.

More film news...Lord Of The Rings stars Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen are Hollywood's highest-earning screen pair. The duo appeared as lovers in Peter Jackson's hit movie trilogy and they helped the movies make $2.9 billion at the box office.
Spiderman stars Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire came second in the list, which was put together by Forbes magazine, after the three films made $2.5 billion. Also in the list were pairs of actors that had appeared in more than one movie together.
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio came third in the list after making $1.8 billion for Titanic and then $75 million for Revolutionary Road in 2008.
(Image: Splash News)

Kate Winslet was "over-exposed" last year.

The actress - who picked up an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 'The Reader' and two Golden Globes for her performances in 'The Reader' and 'Revolutionary Road' respectively in 2009 - decided to take some time out so people wouldn't get tired of her.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I was in hiding a little bit, just doing family stuff and very little work.

"To be honest, I felt so over-exposed this time last year with the Golden Globes and the Oscar. It was fantastic and everything, but I was sick of me, let alone what other people must have felt."

However, Kate is ready to get back to work and presented an award at the Golden Globes ceremony last Sunday (17.01.10) and will do the same at the Academy Awards in March.

Discussing her upcoming projects, Kate is shooting a mini-series for US TV channel HBO based on the James M. Cain novel 'Mildred Pierce'.

She revealed: "We're doing it from the book, not the film version with Joan Crawford.

"It's such a deliciously meaty role and we cover a lot of ground, with Mildred raising her two girls during the Depression era. She runs her own business and, of course, there are men.

Actresses Jennifer Garner (pictured) and Kate Winslet are to present awards at the Golden Globes. It has been announced that Garner, 37, Winslet, 34, and singer Cher, 63, and actor Kiefer Sutherland, 43, will all be presenting awards at the Golden Globe Awards later this year.

The 67th awards show is being aired on NBC from the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 17.

Stars who have already been revealed as presenters of an award include Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Jodie Foster and Sophia Loren. The show is being hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais.
(Image: Splash News)

Kate Winslet (pictured) has the celebrity body most women admire a new poll suggests.  The survey of UK women reveals that Kate's curves equal a win for the Oscar-winning actress.

The blonde beauty has a curvy shape that does not fit the super-skinny ideal in Hollywood. And she has openly dissed as much in the past, complaining about her image being touched up. Winslet, who recently starred in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, came out slightly ahead of Kelly Brook, a TV presenter and model with a similar curvy figure.

Two thousand women were polled by Slimming World. Halle Berry was third followed by Cheryl Cole, Beyonce, Megan Fox, and Lily Allen. Reed-thin Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss came in at the bottom of the poll, as did tabloid queen Katie Price.
See plenty of Kate's sexy award winning body here from the Vanity Fair photo shoot.
Former Casualty actress Rebecca Wheatley, 44, who dropped half her body weight down to 12 stone said: "It is fantastic to see that finally women seem to be aspiring towards a healthy body shape that is realistic and achievable. Kate Winslet has always spoken out about the importance of accepting your body."
 

Eva Mendes is planning to pen a love letter to the British Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet. Mendes, an actress, says she has never met the great Winslet, but thinks that she is in a class all of her own.

She said: "She never allows herself to get pigeonholed and she's always stretching herself. She's done nudity in so many of her films, yet she's not known for that – she's known for her work. She goes there as an actress and really, to me, she's untouchable."

Winslet this year received an Academy Award for best actress and a Golden Globe. She has lately dazzled in such dramatic on-screen fare as Revolutionary Road and The Reader.
Said Mendes: "I've actually never met her and I'm thinking, 'Maybe it's time to write her a little love letter. She can do no wrong in my eyes."

Gerard Butler has been named the best British actor in Hollywood.

The Scottish hunk - who is best known for playing King Leonidas in '300' - beat a host of stars, including Christian Bale and double-Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis to win the title in a poll of more than 1,000 UK film fans by the DVD rental service LoveFilm.

'Revolutionary Road' actress Kate Winslet - who managed to land forth place - was one of only two women to feature in the top ten.

'Twilight' actor Robert Pattinson came seventh despite the huge popularity of the vampire franchise.

Helen Cowley, the editor at LoveFilm, believes the poll shows 40-year-old Gerard had got "some real bite in Hollywood".

She said: "And even though Robert Pattinson is getting some deserved attention, it's the older generation of actors that still have sway in Hollywood."

Kate Winslet is worth £60 million to Britain.

'The Reader' actress was the first celebrity to be "audited" by the UK Film Council, which looked to put a specific value on the country's creative industries and chose the English star as the first example for her success abroad and public profile.

David Steele, the head of research and statistics at the UK Film Council, explained: "When an actor achieves international prominence, they have a general effect of boosting their country of origin that works its way through television appearances, advertising and celebrity news."

A friend said Kate - who won the Best Actress Oscar for 'The Reader' this year - found it "both flattering and very funny".

The audit assessed salaries, profile and "box-office effect" on tourism and entertainment sales to find the figure, which has been nicknamed 'the Winslet algorithm' and may now be used to work out the value of other famous faces, including 'The Dark Knight' star Christian Bale and current James Bond Daniel Craig.