Kate Winslet talks about playing WWII photographer in ‘Lee’

WASHINGTON: Actor Kate Winslet talked about her latest project ‘Lee’ and playing the role of a WWII photographer Lee Miller, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Oh, honestly, it’s a whole bunch of mind…”, she said, adding, “I mean, it is, even to this day. Like anything, going for a job interview, it’s absolutely terrifying. If it’s a job you really want, doubly terrifying”.

Despite her Oscar win for 2008’s ‘The Reader’, she said she sometimes feels like she isn’t worthy of a role.

“So what?” she said. “When I was doing ‘Lee’, I would sit there and I would say, ‘This is ridiculous…. I can truly think of at least five other brilliant actresses who would have played this part much better than me. Like a lot better.’ And often I will turn to another crewmember and I’ll say, ‘They just read the wrong name off the list. I’m telling you, they didn’t mean for me to be here.'”

To prepare to play WWII war photographer Lee Miller in the film “Lee,” Kate Winslet scoured Miller’s personal archives to learn more about her life. In the film, Winslet shoots photographs on an exact replica of Miller’s camera. https://t.co/IXPlNhvgOK pic.twitter.com/LRitQ4S7W3

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 2, 2024

Winslet, who also produced her latest picture, investigated archives with the help of Miller’s son to play World War II photographer Lee Miller. She also engaged a historian to create an exact copy of Miller’s camera, which she used to take photographs during her performance.

“It couldn’t just be a prop,” she said. “It needed to feel like an extension of my arms. I had to be confident and comfortable with it. And in order to do that, I had to know what I was doing”.

“Miller was a fashion model who turned to photography. During WWII, she served as a war correspondent for Vogue and took the photos of the first recorded use of napalm as well some of the first images of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. She also was photographed sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub in his private apartment in Munich the day he committed suicide in Berlin. Winslet said it wasn’t easy to get backers on board initially”, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

“There was one potential investor who said to me, ‘Why should I like this woman?’ I mean, she’s drunk, she’s, you know, she’s like loud. She, I mean, he just probably stopped short of saying she has wrinkles on her face,” she said.

Winslet added, “It’s hard to make films about historical female figures. You know, typically, those aren’t films that would necessarily do well in the box office,” she said.

The actress stated that she does not mind breaching Hollywood rules onstage after being criticised for her weight early in her career, but she is troubled by the double standards for men.

“People say, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role. You didn’t wear any makeup,'” she said. “You know, ‘You had wrinkles.’ Do we say to the men, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role. You grew a beard?’ No. We don’t…. it’s not brave. It’s playing the part.”

Set against the backdrop of Lee Miller recounting her wartime experiences in 1977 to a young journalist, portrayed by Josh O’Connor, through flashbacks, the film promises to delve deep into Miller’s indomitable spirit and enduring legacy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (ANI)