Last week I mentioned Kate Winslet’s upcoming war biopic of photographer Lee Miller, titled Lee, mostly in reference to how hot Andy Samberg looks in this movie. Now there is a full trailer for Lee, though, so let’s talk about Winslet and Lee Miller, who was a very influential 20th century photographer.
Lee is primarily focusing on World War II, when Lee Miller, who was previously an art and fashion photographer best known for her surrealist collaborations with her partner and lover Man Ray, switched gears and became a photojournalist, documenting the European theater for Vogue. Miller is the namesake of Kirsten Dunst’s character in Civil War, and her impact on photojournalism and art photography remains prevalent. Besides Winslet starring as Lee, the film features Andy Samberg as Life photographer David Scherman, who was Lee’s partner in the field during the war. I did not have “Kate Winslet and Andy Samberg teaming up for a war drama” on my 2024 movie bingo card, but here we are.
(David Scherman is the one who took the famous of photo of Lee bathing in Hitler’s tub. A fact about that photo: Lee’s dirty boots centered before the tub are covered in mud from Dachau. She literally tracked the muck of a concentration camp into Hitler’s private apartment, all the way to his bathtub, made sure to rub her boots on his bathmat, and then cleaned herself up with his soap. Yes, she did that sh-t on purpose.)
The film also stars Alexander Skarsgard as Lee’s lover and eventual husband, Roland Penrose; Josh O’Connor as her son, Antony Penrose, who promoted Lee’s work after her death; Andrea Riseborough as Audrey Withers, editor of British Vogue; and Marion Cotillard as Solange d’Ayen, a French aristocrat and editor of French Vogue. It’s a great cast and a film about a fascinating subject—Lee Miller took no sh-t off anyone and contributed important works to surrealism AND the historical record via her photography—and the trailer looks solid, if not spectacular. Mostly this is going to be about Winslet’s performance, and maybe a little bit about Andy Samberg taking on a dramatic role, everyone always loves when a comedian “gets serious”.
The September release date isn’t a confidence builder, though, and as Lee already premiered at TIFF last year, I don’t expect to see it at this year’s fall festivals. It seems a little like getting Lee out of the way before the bigger contenders of 2024 come down the pipe later in the fall/winter, except I never want to count Kate Winslet out of a trophy race. It’s way too early to seriously log contenders, but for now let’s keep the fact that Kate Winslet has a war drama biopic coming out this year in mind. And that people really DO love it when comedians get serious, if Lee gets any traction at all, Samberg might be a contender, too.
