Kate Winslet reveals the one powerful rule she had about nudity scenes in Lee-Alicia Adejobi-Entertainment – Metro

Kate Winslet is a woman who has seen and done it all before but she has described Lee, an empowering biopic about a former model-turned-war photographer, as her ‘most rewarding’ film yet. 

It was a particularly empowering experience for Winslet, 48, as it was a rare occasion where she got to film nude scenes under the helm of a female director. 

Lee reunites the British icon with Ellen Kuras who she worked with on 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, and the two had the same vision in mind when it came to the more intimate moments. 

‘It was really different actually, largely because we automatically knew that whenever we do show Lee naked or partially clothed, it’s always on her terms,’ Winslet told Metro.co.uk in London earlier this month. 

Kuras agreed: ‘Being a woman, obviously I’m very conscious of how women are shown on camera.’ 

Lee, Kuras’ directorial debut, tells the story of Lee Miller in the most significant decade of her life. A former model, Miller discovers a new passion behind the camera and finds herself travelling to Europe to report from the frontline for Vogue magazine during the Second World War. 

Kate Winslet (R) portrays real-life war photographer Lee Miller alongside Marion Cotillard (Picture: Sky UK Ltd/Kimberley French)

Lee also sees Andy Samberg in a rare serious role (Picture: Sky UK Ltd/Kimberley French)

With the use of a Rolleiflex camera, she gives a voice to the voiceless and captures the most horrific scenes in hospitals and concentration camps, changing war photography forever. However, Miller paid an enormous personal price for what she witnessed on the battlefield. 

As she always does, Winslet perfectly embodies all the nuances of her complex subject with Miller, a rather complicated woman; one who is tenacious professionally, a loyal friend and with a liberal attitude when it comes to sexuality. 

It meant that Winslet would find herself filming topless scenes for Lee – such as recreating Miller’s famous photo of herself naked which she took in Hitler’s bathtub – and, while she’s no stranger to nudity on-screen, there was something special this time around. 

The Titanic actress explained: ‘We never sexualised her, we never view her through a male gaze and it was very important to us that we shot it that way because Lee was somebody that had been viewed through the male gaze in the younger part of her life and if you Google “Lee Miller” you’ll often find “the former muse”, “Man Ray”, “ex-model”, “ex-Vogue cover girl”. 

‘That was a small snippet of her life in her 20s and she didn’t even like being a model, she only did it for a couple of years, and then she was asked not to do it again because she did an advertisement for sanitary napkins which apparently wasn’t the done thing.’ 

Winslet revealed the one thing that would actually get her to retire (Picture: Getty Images)

Miller struggled to find work after that – understandably much to Winslet’s grievance – but ultimately decided: ‘I’d much rather take a photograph than be one.’ 

Winslet added: ‘So making the story about a woman as women was an enormous privilege and, of course, the energy that we’re able to put into it, our femininity which I think, Lee Miller kind of redefined what femininity is and this is 80 years ago. 

‘For her it was resilience, courage and compassion and power, and things that matter to us now in this ever-changing culture and I just have so much admiration for what she did, what she witnessed, the courage that she had and this particular decade of her life that we cover in the film I think these were her defining years when she really came into her truest self and never looked back.’ 

As a female director, Kuras was especially mindful when it came to the scenes with nudity and sought to ‘make it feel as though Kate was natural when she took off her top, that she felt natural to sit down and was part of the scene.’ 

The filmmaker shared: ‘One of those was asking Noémie [Merlant] to also be part of that. We understand there’s a sort of ambiance we’re building for that scene where it’s carefree in the 1930s. Here are all these surrealists who didn’t believe in convention, who would define boundaries and always, not only in their work as painters and photographers, but in the actual way that they live so, they didn’t wear their tops if it was hot or sex was free. 

‘It was a very different time than they experienced right after when the war began.’ 

Lee, the film, took over eight years to bring from the script to the screen and sees Winslet stepping into the producer role. 

However, that has meant that the actress had to personally deal with all the problems that movie productions often throw up. It was previously reported that Winslet had to pay the cast and crew salary for two weeks due to funding issues and she’s now revealed how it nearly threatened the entire project. 

‘Any filmmaker who has been a part of the independent film world knows the compromise, knows the challenge, knows the out-of-pocket expenses that exist,’ Winslet told us. ‘The development process went on for a long time, even before Ellen [Kuras] and my brilliant producing partner Kate Solomon came on board. 

‘And yeah, there were writers who needed to be paid so that happened as well and yes, in pre-production we had this very unnerving moment where some of our financing just hadn’t quite landed yet, it was on its way but got stuck and Kate and I looked at each other and said, “Well, we can’t shut down, how do we not shut down?” She’s like, “I think we’re going to have to do it”.’ 

Winslet continued: ‘ Of course, you have to pay people so we just carried on but being a producer, honestly, it was so hard and utterly incredible I have to say, the most rewarding experience of my life because I was across everything and I still am. Kate will often come to me and say, “Can you just approve the title for Poland” – it just doesn’t stop. 

Oscar-nominee Andrea Riseborough shares some fraught scenes with Winslet as the tenacious Miller (Picture: Sky UK Ltd/Kimberley French)

Winslet billed Lee as the ‘most rewarding experience’ of her career yet (Picture: Sky UK Ltd/Kimberley French)

‘It’s the most enormous privilege of my life to have been able to bring this film to the screen.’ 

‘I still can’t believe it, I mean it’s absolutely weird and I’m like, it’s coming out! This is just weird. I don’t have to make the film any more, we’ve done it, this is happening. It’s an amazing feeling,’ she added. 

Like the greatest TV shows of our time, such as Friends and the Sopranos, it’s often best to end on a high but Winslet has no interest in retiring any time soon. 

In fact, the sheer enjoyment she got out of making Lee seems to have spurred her on even more. 

‘I think I’m always looking at my own career differently, every character I play is a different challenge and has different qualities that are different from the last,’ she explained.

‘I certainly feel more embedded in the industry, not just as an actor at this point, which is really lovely and fantastic and you can never stop learning. I think the day I stop learning is the day I have to hang up my hat and go home and I won’t ever be doing that. So it keeps it interesting for me, it makes it more challenging.’ 

Winslet added: ‘And there’s always that element of fear like, we might get this wrong, is that the right decision, should I be doing this, but you know if I wasn’t motivated by overcoming fear then I wouldn’t be living my life and actually, that’s very much like Lee, it’s something that inspired me about her and I realise is very similar to perhaps some of my own qualities and the way I see things. 

‘It’s been an amazing experience. I’ll never stop, I promise you.’ 

Lee will premiere in UK & Irish cinemas from September 13.

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