'Reader' release shifted for Oscar race

Kate Winslet's period drama The Reader has been handed a December 12 release date, allowing it to enter the Oscar race.

The Weinsten Company and producer Scott Rudin had clashed over the film's release, with Rudin opposed to an Awards season bow due to fears that it would have to compete with his and Winslet's other prestige drama Revolutionary Road.

Reader director Stephen Daldry had also voiced concerns about being able to complete the film before the end of 2008.

However, Rudin and Harvey Weinstein said in a joint statement: "We are in complete agreement on the date we have chosen. Working together, we developed a plan to extend the post-production schedule in order to give Stephen Daldry the additional time he needs to successfully complete the film."

Winslet is unlikely to undertake publicity chores for The Reader, instead opting to promote Revolutionary Road, a film directed by her husband Sam Mendes.

The Reader, which co-stars Ralph Fiennes, is based on Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel about a teenager who discovers that a woman he had an affair with is a defendant in a Holocaust war crimes trial.