“We both knew if we were to work together again we couldn’t tread on the kind of similar territory as Titanic,” says DiCaprio, via e-mail. “The characters [in Revolutionary Road] were a departure from what we did together before, and we knew we could push each other as actors to get some interesting performances out of each other.” Asked how Winslet approaches a role, he observes: “Her working script is riddled with notes, with different colored bookmarks, every page has detailed reference points for her to infuse into her role. She takes on her characters like a detective might survey a crime scene.” He adds—no ifs, ands, or buts—“Kate is the most talented actress of her generation.”

For his part, Mendes had to navigate a kind of de facto triangle offscreen. “Leo and Kate’s instinctive, almost wordless understanding of each other saved us weeks of work,” the director says. “I encouraged them and wanted them to go off into a corner together. I wanted them to be the unit of the movie—not me and Kate. For me it was a lot about Leo: I wanted him to feel that she and he were on each other’s side and looking out for each other, rather than me and Kate. Because the person who was in the most complicated position in many ways was Leo, because he was there having to be married to, you know, the director’s wife. And also I made a decision very early on, in rehearsals, that I just had to treat Kate as I would treat any other leading actress of her stature. And I had to do it 24 hours a day because otherwise it would be confusing. Because if I came back and started talking as her husband, rather than her director, then it would have been very, very confusing for her, and for me too.”

Marital status notwithstanding, Mendes is passionate on the subject of his lead actress: “I didn’t realize the extent of her absolute dedication—and I know it’s such a corny word to use, but I really didn’t—until I worked with her. I had seen every aspect of her in many ways except the professional side of her and how incredibly focused she is. I mean, she makes me look like a sort of tired slug.” He adds, “I think there’s quite a lot of talented people and there’s very few gifted people, and I think that she genuinely has a gift. I can’t tell you where it comes from, and I’m not sure she can either—and I think that’s probably a good thing—but when she goes into that place, those strange secret rooms that she unlocks to explore these people that she’s playing, it’s sobering for those of us who don’t possess that kind of pure gift.”

After taking the role in The Reader, Winslet had only two months to prepare—an unusually short period for her, and even more so in this case. “It’s a part that is incredibly complicated,” says Stephen Daldry, the director. “Not just in terms of the age span that the character makes, which is huge, and not just because it’s an extraordinary character, but also because she’s performing in the film where the majority of the actors are Germans speaking in English, and she’s English speaking in a German accent, and so the issues of matching accents are crucial to make sure everybody’s in the same world. What she had to do in two months is climb a mountain.”

Of course, even in the best of circumstances, preparation can take an actor only so far. There’s always a leap of faith to be made in front of the camera. Says Winslet (who threw up before shooting one of *Revolutionary Road’*s most emotionally painful scenes), “I know that in order to do my job as truthfully as I can—because to me that’s everything—you really have to not give a fuck [about what people think]. You have to be prepared to look stupid and you have to be prepared to walk around naked in front of a crew of people you’ve never met before and may never see again. And it is scary.”