Kate Winslet Stars As A War Reporter In Her New Film, Lee
Earlier this year, Kate Winslet led HBO’s satirical comedy series The Regime, and she’s back this month with her new film Lee, a World War II biopic which stars the actress as a war photographer. Directed by Ellen Kuras, it follows the life story of Lee Miller, a former model turned journalist who enlists to cover the war. It also stars Marion Cotillard (Extrapolations), Andrea Riseborough (also in The Regime) and Andy Samberg (Palm Springs), and releases theatrically this week on 13th September. Here’s everything you need to know:
What is Lee about?
Lee Miller (played by Winslet), a real-life figure, was a fashion model in the 1920s in NYC, and would later become a fashion photographer in France. When the war broke out, she decided to become a war correspondent for Vogue magazine, reporting on some of the conflict’s most important events in Europe. A famous photo of her sitting in Hitler’s bathtub in Munich became a notable image during her career. The film follows Lee as she meets her future husband (Alexander Skarsgard) in France and later gets a job at Vogue, but things are upended when World War II breaks out as Hitler invades Poland. She wants to go to the front line of the conflict to cover it and let people know what’s happening- but of course, it’s a mission fraught with risk.
With Vogue, she’s able to sign up as a war photographer and reporter, and heads off to the continent. Lee also covered the Blitz in London and later the liberations of concentration camps, but aside from the dangers of war itself, she deals with the fact that there’s stiff opposition to letting a woman close to the frontlines and covering war. As she surmounts these gender barriers, she survives death-defying moments to get the perfect shot. Winslet has said that Lee Miller’s experiences as a woman are key to the movie, saying that she wanted the film production to be female-helmed- director Ellen Kuras previously worked as a cinematographer on Winslet’s film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Her fellow photojournalist in her endeavour is David Scherman (played by Andy Samberg in an unusually dramatic role), who is with her on the front lines. Andrea Riseborough meanwhile plays Vogue’s editor, Audrey Withers, who agrees to send Lee out to cover the war, while Marion Cotillard plays French journalist and editor of Vogue France Solange d’Ayen. The film releases in UK cinemas on 13th September.