Lee is a an intimate portrayal of former model and fearless World War Two photographer Lee Miller. With Kate Winslet playing Lee, the movie covers the most significant decade of her life and also stars Big Little Lies actor Alexander Skarsgård, Andrea Riseborough, Josh O’Connor and Marion Cotillard.
Lee will show how Miller used her camera to give a voice to the voiceless and, consequently, how her shocking and horrific photographs, taken at Dachau concentration camp and around Europe, remain some of the most historically important of the second world war.
“To me, she was a life force to be reckoned with, so much more than an object of attention from famous men with whom she is associated,” says Kate Winslet, who is also a producer on the movie. “This photographer, writer, reporter, did everything she did with love, lust, and courage, and is an inspiration of what you can achieve, and what you can bear, if you dare to take life firmly by the hands and live it at full throttle.”
So here's everything we know so far about the new movie Lee...
Lee release date
Lee will be shown in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Friday September 13, before it arrives on Sky Cinema a short while after (we'll update with its Sky release). In the US Lee premieres in movie theaters on September 27.
The movie actually had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 9, 2023.
Is there a trailer for Kate Winslet's Lee?
Yes a couple of trailers for Lee have been released that show Kate Winslet stepping into the role of Elizabeth Lee Miller. Some parts of it even look like a Bond movie. Take a look below:
Lee plot — what happens in the movie
New Yorker Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller was a model for Vogue and Vanity Fair but then moved to Paris to study photography. She moved to London just as WW2 broke out and as a middle-aged woman she refused to simply be remembered as a model and muse. Instead she defied social expectations and travelled Europe, reporting from the frontline and covering events such as the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris and the concentration camps at Dachau and Buchenwald. Her work was shown in British Vogue and the terrible images she captured changed perceptions of the war and brought home the atrocities of the concentration camps. Her work changed war photography forever but Lee paid a huge personal price for the stories she fought so hard to tell.
Lee cast — Kate Winslet as Lee Miller
Kate Winslet plays the brave photojournalist Lee Miller who ends up in war zones and all sorts for danger throughout the movie
* Kate Winslet of course shot to fame in the 1997 movie Titanic, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. She’s since starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Contagion, Divergent and Ammonite. In 2021, Kate headed up the drama series Mare of Easttown and appeared with her daughter Mia Threapleton in the Channel 4 drama I Am Ruth in 2022.
Who else is starring in the movie Lee?
Lee also stars Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Andy Samberg who plays Life Magazine photographer David E. Scherman while Big Little Lies star Alexander Skarsgård is surrealist painter, photographer, poet and biographer Roland Penrose. Marion Cotillard (Inception) is Solange D’Ayen, the fashion director of French Vogue, and The Crown’s Josh O’Connor is Tony, a young journalist. Andrea Riseborough, who is playing Mrs Wormwood in Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, will star as British Vogue Editor Audrey Withers.
The real Elizabeth Lee Miller — a brief biography
Born on April 23 1907, Elizabeth Lee Miller suffered personal trauma of her own and at seven years old was raped by a family friend and infected with gonorrhea. She rebelled at school and was expelled from numerous schools. At 19 Lee tried to step out in front of a car but was stopped by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue. That encounter led to her modelling career but once that ended she moved to Paris to take up photography. Lee married and moved to Egypt but relocated to London as World War II broke out. She then moved into photojournalism, taking photos from the frontline. She was famously photographed in Hitler’s bathtub in 1945, with the dust of Dachau on her boots, deliberately dirtying his bathroom. Her photographs of the concentration camps helped convince the public that such atrocities had really taken place. However, her experiences left her with severe PTSD and depression. Lee died on July 21, 1977, aged 70..
Locations and behind the scenes on Lee the movie
Lee has been filmed in Croatia, Hungary and London during 2022 (see our first look main picture). Pioneer Stillking is the Production service company for Hungary. Embassy Films is the Production service company for Croatia.
Julia Stuart, Director of Original Film at Sky says: “Sky is honoured to bring Lee Miller’s wartime journey to screens across the UK. Lee Miller was an utterly unstoppable woman, whose timeless story is as relevant now as it was in her day, and there is no one better suited to that role than the masterful Kate Winslet.”
Lee is produced by Kate Solomon and Kate Winslet, with Troy Lum, Andrew Mason, Marie Savare and Lauren Hantz. Executive Producers are Julia Stuart and Laura Grange, Finola Dwyer, Thorsten Schumacher, Billy Mulligan, John Hantz, Jason Duan, Crystine Zhang, Lem Dobbs, Liz Hannah, John Collee and Clare Hardwick.
LEE is a MS Participations, Rocket Science, Hantz Motion Pictures and A Sky Original Film in association with Pasaca Entertainment. A Brouhaha Entertainment and Juggle Films Production in association with 55 Films and Vogue Studios.
