Kate Winslet is all set to take on the character of war photographer in her upcoming movie, Lee. Following the movie premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the actress opened up about how she emphasized having a female director on the film. The film is based on Lee Miller and the incident she faced in her real life, which got her to enter the zone of World War II. The Oscar-winning actress has not only played the lead role in the film but also came onboard as a producer.
According to the production notes, Winslet claimed to the crew members, “There was no question that it would be a woman who would direct this film.”
The Titanic star will portray the role of Lee Miller, who turned a photojournalist from being a Vogue model. Miller died in 1977, leaving behind a legacy to follow for future aspirants. Speaking of her character, the actress revealed that she wished to bring the viewers out of their preconcieved notions about the personality and to dispel “ideas about Lee Miller as the model and the subject of many male artists’ gazes.”
For the position of director, Winslet initially approached Ellen Kuras, who had been the cinematographer on one of the actress’ popular movies, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However, the director of photography mentioned to the Observer that the potential investors were not happy with the idea of making a movie on Lee.
Kuras believes that the movie would help “skew the perspective to a place where Lee’s known for her work and for who she was—not only for the men that she was attached to”. She went on to add, “The tendency is [to] see women through men. [We’re] looking at her as someone who stepped from the front of the camera and went behind the camera… to take control of the image… to create her own story.
Sharing the details of the upcoming war movie, Kuras shared the insight of what the movie is about. She said, “Lee is a great role model because she wasn’t given the opportunity to become a war correspondent. She went out and found it. She followed her own intuition in the pursuit of telling the truth and the pursuit of justice.”
Apart from Winslet, the film also stars Andy Samberg and is directed by Ellen Kuras. Lee will hit theaters on September 27.
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