Amidst artillery fire and smoke, gender expectations and heady barriers, wartime photographer Lee Miller trounced it all to take some of the most important photographs of the 20th century. Kate Winslet’s latest production project and lead role in Lee illustrate the icon’s story in vivid color, as an epic tale of the activist artist during a time of her life that had long been hidden.
On Wednesday night, the cast and team–including Winslet, director Ellen Kuras, Andy Samberg, and Andrea Riseborough—gathered amongst supporters and peers at the Celeste Bartos Theater of the Museum of Modern Art to screen the film and explore Miller’s harrowing tale.
“Her wisdom and compassion catapulted her into an era of her life where she truly came into her own. She was uncompromising, unflinching, and was deeply inspiring,” Winslet shared after the screening. Shot in nine weeks over three countries (Hungary, Croatia, and England), the film captures the raw intensity and complexities of Miller’s journey from fashion model to fearless photojournalist, documenting the atrocities of World War II with an unrelenting gaze.
Miller’s war photography career began after partnering with then-British Vogue editor Audrey Withers on assignments at the front, where she would capture the scenes of hollowed-out towns, concentration camps, and soldiers and civilians, at moments of easy levity and breathless struggle alike.
Only discovered by her son Antony Penrose after her death, this historical record has since been immortalized in the book “The Lives of Lee Miller” by Penrose, who was also in attendance at the event. “Through this film, I hope you get to meet my mum,” he shared in pre-screening remarks.
Samberg, who portrays fellow war correspondent David Sherman of Life Magazine, explained that for his character, “there was a lot of connective tissue between Sherman and my own family. My grandfather was in the war at the time, and my father was a photographer, so it all felt very kismet.”
After the film, guests gathered for a private reception at the nearby Acadia restaurant, where the cast mingled with friends and reflected on the screening with champagne and light bites. Conversations buzzed about the film’s powerful portrayal of Miller’s life, and her indelible mark on both the worlds of fashion and war photography. The night not only celebrated the release of Lee, but reignited (what is sure to be) extended dialogue on Miller’s extraordinary story.
