Kate's Eighth?

Kate Winslet in Wonder Wheel (2017).

Is Kate Winslet bound for her 8th Oscar nomination for Wonder Wheel (2017)?

This year's Best Actress race is so crowded. It's an embarrassment of riches of acclaimed performances: Annette Bening for Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017), Jessica Chastain for Molly's Game (2017), Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water (2017), Salma Hayek for Beatriz at Dinner (2017), Nicole Kidman for The Beguiled (2017), Jennifer Lawrence for mother! (2017), Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Carey Mulligan for Mudbound (2017), Rosamund Pike for Hostiles (2017), Florence Pugh for Lady Macbeth (2017), Margot Robbie for I, Tonya (2017), Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird (2017), and Emma Stone for Battle of the Sexes (2017). It's not yet even including perennial Oscar favorites Meryl Streep for The Post (2017), Michelle Williams for All the Money in the World (2017), and, of course, Kate Winslet for Wonder Wheel (2017), whose films have yet to be screened.

Early 'word' suggests that she is great in it. Her co-star Jim Belushi even gushed about her performance:

You'll be blown away when you see it. Kate is going to win the Academy Award. I was standing to the side watching this scene where she’s talking to her daughter, and I’m watching this monologue thinking to myself, “This is the moment. I’m watching an Academy Award-winning performance.” She’s so brilliant.

What's so important about an 8th Oscar nomination?

For starters, there are only 12 actors to have achieved collecting eight nominations (or more) in the history of the Academy Awards. It's a very elite group like the EGOT winners club. We can add to this the imbalanced recognition for female actors by the Academy. Only four actresses have earned eight (or more) acting nominations: Bette Davis in 1951 (the first actor ever) for All About Eve (1950), Katharine Hepburn in 1960 for Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Geraldine Page in 1986 for her final Oscar-nominated turn and only statuette for The Trip to Bountiful (1985), and Meryl Streep in 1989 (that was 28 years ago!) for A Cry in the Dark (1988).

The only actresses with 8 (or more) Oscar nominations: Bette Davis (1951), Katharine Hepburn (1960),
Geraldine Page (1986), and Meryl Streep (1989).

As pointed out in previous analyses of the sexist treatment of Hollywood, actresses have sell out date while actors tend to have continued opportunities well until their 60s or beyond. Leading and interesting roles for middle aged women just dry up and Hollywood doesn't seem to be interested in getting films about 'older' women made.

Since Miss Davis' record-breaking achievement in 1951, each decade since has produced at least an 8th acting Oscar nomination: Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (1962) in the 60s; Laurence Olivier (1973) in the 70s; Jack Lemmon (1983), Jack Nicholson (1986), Page, and Streep in the 80s; Marlon Brando (1990), Al Pacino (1993), and Paul Newman (1995) in the 90s; and the Oscar-less late Peter O'Toole, the last one to have received, in 2007. With only 2 more years left in 2010s, the present decade has yet to produce another 8-time acting Oscar nominee. There are nine living 7-time nominees: Cate Blanchett, Jeff Bridges, Robert De Niro, Dame Judi Dench, Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Denzel Washington, and Kate Winslet. Except for double Oscar winners Fonda and Hoffman, the rest have earned their 7th nomination in the last 5 years. Fonda's nomination was from 31 years ago and Hoffman's from 20 years ago.

Kate Winslet will also become the second youngest actor to score eight acting Oscar nominations at 42 years and 109 days. Meryl Streep is the youngest at 39 years and 237 days. Bette Davis also earned her 8th nomination at age 42 but with less than 2 months before her 43rd birthday. Kate will then have four years to secure 2 more nominations to topple Meryl's record of 10th nomination at age 46 in 1996 for The Bridges of Madison County (1995).

Kate's pre-8: Sense and Sensibility (1995), Titanic (1997), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004),
Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) [won!], and Steve Jobs (2015).

Mrs. Rocknroll previous Academy Award nominations were for Best Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility (1995) at age 20, Best Actress for Titanic (1997) at 22, Supporting Actress for Iris (2001) at 24, Lead Actress for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) at 29, Best Actress for Little Children (2006) at 31 (the youngest 5-time nominee), Best Actress (also won!) for The Reader (2008) at 33 (the youngest 6-time nominee, as well), and Supporting Actress for Steve Jobs (2015) at 40.

Dame Judi Dench in Victoria and Abdul (2017) and Denzel Washington in Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017).

Let us not forget that Judi Dench and Denzel Washington also have movies being released for awards consideration: Victoria and Abdul (2017) and Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017). Dame Judi's movie received a lukewarm treatment but her performance was warmly welcomed. The same could be said of Denzel's movie, Dan Gilroy's follow up to his critically acclaimed Nightcrawler (2014).