In June 2020, after years of speculation, it was confirmed that Kate Winslet would portray Lee Miller, British Vogue’s prolific World War II correspondent, under the magazine’s formidable editor-in-chief Audrey Withers, in a new film directed by Oscar-nominated auteur Ellen Kuras. (Kuras previously collaborated with Winslet as the cinematographer for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.) Now, the first teaser and full-length trailer have been released, providing a glimpse of Winslet in character as Miller, steadfast in the face of unimaginable horror.
Titled Lee, this highly anticipated release draws inspiration from the biography The Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose—Miller’s son with her second husband, historian and Surrealist movement champion Roland Penrose. The script is penned by Liz Hannah, in collaboration with Lem Dobbs, John Collee, Marion Hume, and The Lee Miller Archives. Alongside Winslet as Miller, Alexander Skarsgård will play Roland Penrose, replacing Jude Law, who had initially been cast in the role. Josh O’Connor will portray Antony Penrose. Andrea Riseborough stars as Audrey Withers, and Marion Cotillard as Solange D’Ayen, the fashion director of French Vogue and a close ally of Miller’s.
The cast also includes Noémie Merlant as French artist Nusch Éluard, Samuel Barnett as Vogue contributor and legendary photographer Cecil Beaton, and Andy Samberg as David E. Scherman, a Life magazine war correspondent who collaborated with Miller on several assignments (notably taking the iconic photograph of her in Hitler’s Munich apartment bathtub in 1945).
The drama’s logline clarifies that it is “not a biopic,” but an exploration of “the most significant decade of Lee Miller’s life”—from 1938 to 1948. “As a middle-aged woman, she refused to be remembered as a model and male artists’ muse,” it states. “She defied the expectations and rules of the time and traveled to Europe to report from the front lines. In part as a reaction to her own well-hidden trauma, she used her Rolleiflex camera to give a voice to the voiceless. What Lee captured on film in Dachau and throughout Europe was shocking. Her photographs of the war, its victims, and its consequences remain among the most historically important. She changed war photography forever, but Lee paid an enormous personal price for what she witnessed and the stories she fought to tell.”
Miller began her career as a model for Vogue US after Condé Nast himself prevented her from stepping in front of a car in Manhattan and introduced her to editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase. She later moved to Paris to study photography under Man Ray, becoming his lover and muse. Following the Blitz, she became British Vogue’s official war correspondent, capturing significant events such as the siege of St Malo, the liberation of Paris, and the opening of Dachau. Despite her professional success, she struggled with depression throughout her life.
As for when this sweeping tale will reach the big screen? Mark your calendars for September 27, 2024.
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