Kate comes in from the cold
February 17, 1996

IT MAKES SENSE: The English rose who is aiming to wow 'em at this year's Academy Awards.

By John Millar

Oscar hopeful Kate Winslet has revealed that she found filming the big screen classic Sense and Sensibility was just the pits.

The young English actress - nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category - was struck with hypothermia.

And she had to stick her bare feet under co-star Greg Wise's armpits to warm up.

It happened after Kate, 20, had spent hours filming a sequence for the Jane Austen classic in the pouring rain.

At the end of an arduous day in front of the cameras she collapsed, suffering from hypothermia

Kate said: "I got so wet and freezing cold, I passed out.

"But it was my own fault. Another actress had a Mac under her dress, but I didn't wear one because it was uncomfortable."

The medics rushed to Kate's rescue and came up with the rather unusual way of raising her body temperature.

Kate laughed: "The medic checked that Greg was dry and then told him to put my bare feet under his armpits. Apparently it's the best way of getting your body temperature back up."

Kate, fellow Oscar nominee Emma Thompson, who plays Elinor, Hugh Grant, who is Edward, and the rest of the cast are featured tomorrow in Sense And Sensibility: Behind The Scenes.

It's a television documentary on the making of the movie, which is in the running for seven Academy Awards.

In the film - which opens at cinemas on Friday - Kate plays Marianne, who falls for the dashing Willoughby, played by Greg Wise.

And the smiling actress said that she really was swept off her feet by her handsome co-star - who has been romantically linked with Emma Thompson.

She said: "After we read some lines together and he walked out of the room, I just fell on the floor. I said he'd done exactly what Willoughby does to Marianne."

Kate was also taken by surprise when she and Greg were filmed together in a horse driven carriage.

She said: "I had no idea what was going to happen.

"One minute Greg was saying to the horses `Come on boys', and then next we were hurtling round this corner.

"It went so quickly, it was brilliant, such fun."

Though she makes light of it all, and even cracks jokes at her series of mishaps while filming the movie, Kate certainly had her share of knocks.

She suffered from a nasty bout of phlebitis during filming.

Kate revealed: "We were filming a ballroom sequence when my foot became swollen and my knee throbbed.

"A doctor diagnosed phlebitis.

"Afterwards, I was walking so gingerly down some steps to protect my leg, that I slipped and hurt my wrist and had to go to casualty at 2am. It was really hilarious."

The actress confessed that working on Sense and Sensibility has been a literary education for her.

She said she wasn't familiar with the work of Jane Austen until she was cast in the film.

"I had never read any of Jane Austen's work before but, since I landed this part I've read Sense And Sensibility a thousand times.

"Now I want to get the rest of her work because I think that she's brilliant."

Her Academy Award nomination is the pinnacle of a great year for Kate.

As well as Sense And Sensibility, she has filmed Jude - a version of Jude The Obscure - with Christopher Eccleston in Edinburgh and she's currently starring as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.

But after her knock-out year Kate thinks the time might be right to take a well- earned break.

She said: "I'm not knocking being so very busy, it's all been fantastic.

"But now I'm thinking about taking some time off. I need to get a life outside of work."

(Tomorrow BBC1, 2.55pm)

COPYRIGHT 1996 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday

Source: The Daily Record