Kate Winslet is embodying the iconic American war correspondent and photographer Lee Miller for an eponymous biopic.
Winslet leads “Lee,” the directorial feature debut from award-winning cinematographer Ellen Kuras. The film centers on a decade in the life of Lee Miller, who was formerly a model and muse for male artists before traveling to Europe to report from the frontline during WWII. Lee infamously posed in Hitler’s private bathtub while abroad and used her Rolleiflex camera to “give a voice to the voiceless,” the film teases.
Its logline reads: What she captured on film in Dachau and throughout Europe was shocking and horrific. Her photographs of the war, its victims and its consequences remain among the most significant and historically important of the Second World War. She changed war photography forever, but Lee Miller paid an enormous personal price for what she witnessed and the stories she fought to tell.
Along with Winslet, the cast includes Josh O’Connor, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgård, and Marion Cotillard.
Winslet produced the indie film and also personally paid the crew’s salaries for two weeks during its shoot. Additional producers include Kate Solomon, Troy Lum, Andrew Mason, Marie Savare, and Lauren Hantz.
“Lee” is written by Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, and John Collee. The film is distributed by Vertical Entertainment and Roadside Attractions and was acquired after premiering at TIFF 2023.
Kuras previously told IndieWire’s Anne Thompson that Winslet’s research was paramount to the historical story.
“She was very involved in the film from A to Z. From all the research to us having extensive conversations about who we wanted to cast, talking about who could be in different roles,” Kuras said. “She researches and knows all of her lines and everybody else’s lines. She’s so well-prepared and thinks about every single part of the detail so she embodies and loves the character.”
Kuras added of Winslet’s take on Lee, “What we found fascinating, and Kate really wanted to show too, is her drive to seek the truth and to bear witness to what happened to all of these people. Lee Miller was very much somebody who looked at the invisible; her camera was deliberately pointed on the people who didn’t necessarily have a voice, who weren’t seen.”
“Lee” premieres September 27 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
