Kate Winslet on redefining Lee Miller away from the male gaze in ‘Lee’
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on October 18, 2024
Kate Winslet is photographer Elizabeth “Lee” Miller in the new film Lee, in theaters now.
The movie tells the true story of the fashion model-turned-photographer who became an acclaimed war correspondent as she covered World War II for Vogue magazine.
While Winslet was familiar with Miller’s work before joining the film, she did not know all of the details of her life. She told ABC Audio she is happy to share Miller’s story with the world.
“I did not know just how extraordinary what she actually did as a middle-aged woman in going to the front line, and pushing through and into male-dominated spaces where women were not allowed in order to be that visual voice for the victims of the conflict,” Winslet said.
Another thing that attracted Winslet to the project was the idea of reshaping the way Miller had been framed in history.
“She had been, I think, somewhat defined by the male gaze in history,” Winslet said. “She was referred to as the muse of Man Ray, the former lover of X, Y, Z … this was this chapter of her life, a tiny little chapter in her 20s, but somehow these somewhat infantilizing labels had been stuck on her.”
“She became so much more and way beyond that when she moved into those powerful decades of her life in her 30s and 40s,” Winslet continued.
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