"'Little Children' takes you down lots of different dark alleyways and you really don't know what you're going to find at the end of it," Kate Winslet warns us about her new film, opening on Oct. 6. "And I love that about it. It's so real." (Listen to our full podcast chat — CLICK HERE!)

"Little Children" is also a real shockeroo because it's not kid's stuff. It's a brazenly bold love story about adulterers yearning for romantic escape from their shallow suburban marriages, interwoven with a subplot about a sex offender who is not portrayed as a poor, misunderstood outcast. He continues to do things his "mommy" would disapprove of while director Todd Field ("In the Bedroom") forces viewers — against their will and better judgment — to feel sorry for him.

"I was nervous to read this script because of this slightly sinister character," Kate admits. "But I was so amazed and overwhelmed by how brilliantly that role is constructed."

Kate's own character, Sarah, is also complicated and frequently unsympathetic. "She's kind of a lost, repressed woman who's very intelligent but doesn't quite know why she's married to the man she's married to. And finds herself the mother of a child she doesn't have a very strong connection with."

All of this leads to "a whopper of an ending" that "really does surprise you," she warns.

It could also lead to Kate's fifth Oscar nomination. Most Oscar gurus agree she's one of several frontrunners this year. Many Oscarologists also believe that "Little Children" is a strong rival for best picture, director (Field), supporting actor (Earle Haley as the sex offender) and screenplay.

Listen to our podcast chat with Kate about "Little Children" and her past Oscar nominations. Her favorite academy bid was her last one — for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The reason: "I was so flabbergasted that I had that nomination because the movie had come out I think something like 10 months before the Academy Awards and I was just so struck by how much the performance and the film had stayed within people's radar."

When she got the nom, she called her mom. Listen to her recount that excited phone chat — CLICK HERE!

CLICK HERE TO HEAR OUR PODCAST CHAT WITH KATE'S COSTAR PATRICK WILSON!

Photo: Just like in "Titantic," "Eternal Sunshine" and "Sense and Sensibility," Kate's role in "Little Children" surrenders to a feeling of romantic abandon. "It's been inspiring for me to play several characters who have this as part of their human nature," she tells us. (New Line)