Photojournalism and the objectivity around it has been a massive topic of late thanks to Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” a drama about a group of photojournalists and journalists racing to the White House to cover an impending attack in a near-future dystopian setting. And so the new trailer for “Lee,” starring Kate Winslet as one of the first-ever famous war photojournalists, Lee Miller, seems incredibly well-timed. In fact, Kirsten Dunst’s photographer character in the film, Lee Smith, is named after Miller.
“Lee” was adapted from the 1985 biography “The Lives of Lee Miller” by Antony Penrose and stars Kate Winslet as Lee Miller, who goes from a career as a model to enlisting as a photographer to chronicle the events of World War II for Vogue magazine.
The film is directed by Ellen Kuras, an award-winning cinematographer who has collaborated with Michel Gondry, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, Jim Jarmusch, Rebecca Miller, and Martin Scorsese, to name just a few. Kuras also directs. She made her documentary directorial debut with 2008’s “The Betrayal – Nerakhoon” and has helmed a lot of TV (“Ozark,” “Legion,” “The Umbrella Academy”), but “Lee” is her narrative feature-length debut.
“Lee” is a bit of a star-studded affair, and additional cast members include Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Noemie Merlant, Josh O’Connor, Alexander Skarsgard, Arinze Kene, Vincent Colombe, Patrick Mille, and Samuel Barnett.
The idea for “Lee” started when filmmaker Kuras saw a book on war photographer Lee Miller in a New York bookshop. Kuras sent Winslet a copy of the book after seeing a resemblance between Miller and Winslet, with whom she had collaborated on the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Kuras retained a copy for herself. Years later, Winslet approached Kuras about directing a film she was working on about Miller.
“Lee” premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 9, 2023. The film is scheduled to be released by Sky Cinema in the United Kingdom and Ireland on September 13. Roadside Attractions and Vertical will release “Lee” in North America on September 27. Watch the first trailer below.