Where to watch The Reader (2008)

Trivia & production notes

• Nicole Kidman was cast as the lead after Kate Winslet left due to scheduling conflicts with Revolutionary Road, but Kidman departed the project in January 2008 citing her pregnancy, allowing Winslet to return without disrupting the production schedule.
• Screenwriter David Hare deliberately avoided using voiceover narration to convey the novel's internal monologues and instead altered the ending so Michael tells his daughter about his relationship with Hanna.
• Producer Scott Rudin left the production and had his name removed from the credits over a dispute about rushed editing to meet a 2008 release date, disagreeing with Harvey Weinstein about promoting the film alongside other Winslet projects.
• Kate Winslet underwent seven and a half hours of makeup and prosthetic application each day to age her character Hanna from a seductress to an imprisoned war criminal.
• Filming of intimate scenes between David Kross and Kate Winslet was postponed until Kross turned 18 years old.
• David Kross, who had just learned English for the role, had such a strong accent that the primary cast members, all German except for Fiennes, Olin, and Winslet, chose to emulate it.
• Cinematographer Roger Deakins was replaced by Chris Menges during production.
• Author Bernhard Schlink insisted the film be shot in English rather than German because the story's questions about post-genocide society extended beyond mid-century Germany.
• Kate Winslet's Academy Award for Best Actress was her first win after five previous nominations.
• The film's widest theatrical release occurred on February 27, 2009, the weekend following Kate Winslet's Oscar win.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article The Reader (2008 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.