The first look at ‘Lee,’ starring Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg, and Marion Cotillard, has been revealed by Vanity Fair. The film follows Lee Miller (Winslet), who goes from a career as a model to enlisting as a photographer to chronicle the events of World War II for Vogue magazine.
Directed by Ellen Kuras in her debut feature film, with a screenplay by Liz Hannah, John Collee, and Marion Hume, and a story by Hume, Collee, and Lem Dobbs. It’s based on Antony Penrose’s book ‘The Lives of Lee Miller.’
Director Kuras, working with cinematographer Paweł Edelman, opens the film with a shot of Miller in a combat zone, showing her risking her life with a camera. Kuras focuses on Miller’s perspective, emphasizing her emotions and inner world. “You find this middle-aged woman who’s just thrown herself in the middle of this battlefield—that is what Lee Miller did,” Kuras says, as if still in awe. “She went out there and threw herself into war to be able to search for the truth. She knew that there was something there. She wanted to find out what was happening on the front lines. It was not a place where women were permitted. Women weren’t seen. So she was a surprising but galvanizing presence wherever she went.”
What is the plot of Lee?
Lee follows American model Lee Miller, who later began working as a photojournalist for Vogue during the Second World War and exposed Nazi atrocities at the concentration camps. In the aftermath of Vogue’s betrayal by not publishing her unflinching photos, she locks them away, and they remain unseen for several decades.
In the film, Kate Winslet stars as Lee Miller, with Marion Cotillard as Solange d’Ayen, Alexander Skarsgård as Roland Penrose, Andrea Riseborough playing Audrey Withers, Josh O’Connor portraying Antony Penrose, Andy Samberg taking on the role of David Scherman, Noémie Merlant becoming Nusch Éluard, Arinzé Kene as Major Jonesy, Vincent Colombe as Paul Éluard, Patrick Mille playing Jean D’Ayen, Samuel Barnett transforming into Cecil Beaton, Zita Hanrot as Ady Fidelin, and James Murray as Colonel Spencer.
‘Lee’ will premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2023.
