Will Kate Winslet and Judi Dench each get an Oscar nomination for playing Iris Murdoch?
JUDI DENCH and Kate Winslet could be in line for Oscar nominations for the same part. They portray prize-winning author Dame Iris Murdoch at different ages in Richard Eyre’s life-affirming movie, Iris. Academy Award contenders are announced in February and if their performances were to be recognised — Judi for best actress and Kate in the best supporting actress category — it would be the first time two actresses have been nominated for playing the same role. Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro won Oscars for playing Vito Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2, but the honours were three years apart. Iris is the love story of Murdoch, who died almost three years ago, and her husband, John Bayley, the literary critic and lecturer. Jim Broadbent and Hugh Bonneville share the duty of portraying Bayley, the keeper of Murdoch’s soul. He wrote two memoirs about how his wife disappeared into the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease. At one point, the younger Iris asks: ‘If one doesn’t hav
