Kate Winslet on bringing passion project Lee to life

Kate Winslet spoke to us about her latest movie Lee and the ten year journey of bringing the story to life. In the move, Kate plays Lee Miller an accomplished war photographer during WWII whose photographs went beyond the surface connecting with their subject matter and giving humanity to the people in front of the lens. She immediately found a connection in playing Less and the strenght and confidence which led her directly into the center of these warzones and felt this was the most important part of her story to tell and capture on screen.

She dove into vast amounts of research and preparation in playing the role from the dialect work she did to master an American accent adjacent to the time period and also learned photography on a vintage rolleiflex camera, the same as Lee herself used. Within the film we see Lee photographing some of her iconic images and Kate herself was taking theses photos and recreating them within the making of the film.

Lee’s son who runs the archive of her photographs and materials was incredibly generous in sharing not only images but also personal writings and even access to his mothers outfits from the time so the costumes could be recreated as exact replicas.

Throughout the ten year journey of getting the film made as a producer, she always felt the importance in telling this story and still to this point feels deeply connected to the passion which sparked the initial interest.

Watch the full conversation below:

Q&A on the film Lee with actor & producer Kate Winslet. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

The story of American photographer Lee Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.