Winslet says 'Reader' role was challenging

BERLIN, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- British actress Kate Winslet says playing an illiterate concentration camp guard in "The Reader" was a difficult task at times.

The 33-year-old actress, who gained fame in "Titanic" and "Sense and Sensibility," said capturing the guilt and shame felt by her character in relation to her Nazi ties and illiteracy was a difficult task, Deutsche Welle reported Saturday.

"I tried to make her a human being as well as showing her vulnerability and shame," Winslet said after a Berlin International Film Festival screening Friday.

The movie, based on a book by German novelist Bernhard Schlink, follows a romance between Winslet's character and a 15-year-old boy played by David Kross.

The "Reader" has already earned Winslet a best actress Oscar nomination and is up for a total of five Academy Awards this year, including best picture and a best director nod for Stephen Daldry.