Kate Winslet Portrays World War 2 Photographer Lee Miller in Haunting 'Lee' Trailer (original) (raw)

'Lee,' a biopic following the life and work of photojournalist Lee Miller, releases in theaters Sept. 27

Published on May 1, 2024 02:13PM EDT

Kate Winslet is bringing a real World War II story to the screen.

On Wednesday, May 1, Roadside Attractions and Vertical released the first trailer for Winslet's new biopic Lee, in which the Academy Award winner portrays Lee Miller, a 20th-century American model-turned-photojournalist who reported for British Vogue from the front alongside Allied forces in 1944 and 1945.

The film's short teaser shows Miller reflecting on her experiences in combat before flashing back to her decision to work from the front during the invasion of Normandy, as well as moments of her experiencing the horrors of war during her time on the front lines.

An official synopsisfor Lee reads that the movie picks up in the late 1930s as Nazi Germany's power in Europe rises and as Miller engages in a relationship with an art dealer named Roland Penrose (
Alexander Skarsgård). Once World War II breaks out, Lee begins working for British Vogue and continually grows frustrated with limitations placed on female photographers that leave her only to work in England during the war effort.

Kate Winslet in 2024's 'Lee'.

Roadside Flix/YouTube

"Miller overcomes enormous obstacles and gets herself to the frontline of World War II," the synopsis reads. "Immediately compelled to document the truth, she turns her lens in the direction of suffering, and slowly begins to reveal the horrific loss of life due to Hitler’s diabolical crimes against the innocent victims of his regime."

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Miller famously accompanied Allied forces as they encountered Nazi Germany's concentration camps at Buchenweld and Dachau during the waning days of the war in 1945, as both the movie's synopsis and the U.K.'s Imperial War Museum note of her work.

She and Life Magazine photographer David E. Scherman — whom Andy Samberg portrays in the movie — also snapped a famous image of Miller bathing in Adolf Hitler's bathtub on April 30, 1945, the same day the German dictator died.

"Miller had a profound understanding and empathy for women and the voiceless victims of war. Her images display both the fragility and ferocity of the human experience," the synopsis reads. "Above all, the film shows how Miller lived her life at full-throttle in pursuit of truth, for which she paid a huge personal price, forcing her to confront a traumatic and deeply buried secret from her childhood."

The movie, directed by Ellen Kuras, also features performances from Challengers star Josh O’Connor, Andrea Riseborough and Marion Cotillard.

Lee is in theaters Sept. 27.