Kate Winslet’s Long-Planned Lee Miller Biopic is Finally Coming to the Big Screen

A Near-Decade in the Making

For nine years, Kate Winslet has been fighting to bring the story of Lee Miller to the screen. That perseverance is finally paying off, as Winslet is set to portray Miller in the upcoming biopic, Lee, which she has also produced.

The film marks a significant departure from Winslet’s recent work, including Mare Of Easttown and Avatar: The Way Of Water. Instead, it takes us back to World War II, exploring the life of the photographer who captured the likes of the Blitz, the concentration camp at Dachau, and the liberation of Paris for Vogue magazine.

A Legacy Waiting to be Told

For Winslet, the weight of telling this story was exactly why it was worth telling. "I wanted to try and redefine how people might discover her," she explains. "For perhaps another generation of young women, perhaps people who know her images or what she looked like but don’t know this defining decade of her life, that put her through hell. What she lived through and what she achieved is something. It should be celebrated. It’s her legacy."

A Distinct Lens

Part of that legacy was the distinct lens through which Miller observed the war. "Lee really did see the world through female eyes," Winslet explains. "She was also a woman rebelling against the male gaze." That applied both to herself, and her work. "She was leaving it behind, shedding it, like a fucking skin, almost scrubbing it off herself — and immersing herself in violence and dirt in order to eradicate it from her own system, let alone the memory that everyone else had of her." Get ready to see Winslet as you’ve never seen her before – but, as dedicated on-screen as ever.

Read the Full Feature

Read Empire‘s full Lee feature – speaking to Kate Winslet and director Ellen Kuras about bringing Lee Miller’s astonishing life to the screen – in the Joker: Folie À Deux issue, on sale Thursday 1 August. Pre-order a copy online here. Lee comes to UK cinemas from 13 September, and streams on Sky Cinema later this year.

Conclusion
Kate Winslet’s portrayal of Lee Miller is a testament to the power of perseverance and dedication to telling a story that deserves to be told. With its unique lens on the war and Miller’s life, Lee is set to be a fascinating and eye-opening film.

Frequently Asked Questions

• When is Lee coming to the big screen?
  • Lee comes to UK cinemas from 13 September, and streams on Sky Cinema later this year.
• Who is playing Lee Miller in the film?
  • Kate Winslet is playing Lee Miller in the film, which she has also produced.
• What is the film about?
  • The film is a biopic about the life of Lee Miller, a photographer who captured the likes of the Blitz, the concentration camp at Dachau, and the liberation of Paris for Vogue magazine during World War II.