A Biopic About Model Turned WWII Journalist Lee Miller

Summary

Podcast Title: All Of It
Host: Alison Stewart
Episode: A Biopic About Model Turned WWII Journalist Lee Miller
Release Date: December 30, 2024
Duration: Approximately 29 minutes

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Introduction

In this episode of All Of It, host Alison Stewart delves into the creation of the biopic "Lee", which chronicles the life of Lee Miller, a renowned model turned World War II journalist and photographer. The film stars Kate Winslet and is directed by Ellen Kuras. Winslet's compelling performance has garnered critical acclaim, earning her nominations for two Golden Globes.

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Overview of the Film "Lee"

"Lee" tells the story of Lee Miller, a model who transformed into one of the first female war correspondents during World War II. Her poignant photographs captured the horrors of the London Blitz and the atrocities in Dachau, Germany. Despite her significant contributions, Miller's work remained largely undiscovered until after her death in 1977, when her family unearthed her archives.

Kate Winslet portrays Lee Miller, bringing depth and nuance to the character, while Ellen Kuras, an experienced filmmaker and cinematographer, directs the film. Their collaboration has resulted in a piece that not only highlights Miller's bravery but also explores the emotional and psychological toll of her experiences.

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Inspiration Behind the Film

Kate Winslet shared with Alison Stewart the origins of the project:

"It started with a table." ([03:43])

Winslet and Kuras were inspired when a vintage kitchen table, once owned by Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, was discovered. This table, a symbol of Miller's life and the vibrant artistic community she was part of, became the catalyst for bringing her story to the screen. Winslet emphasized the importance of connecting with Miller's son, Anthony Penrose, to preserve the authenticity and integrity of the narrative.

Ellen Kuras added:

"I knew that the most important thing that I should do would be to go and meet her son, Anthony Penrose... because it wouldn't have been possible without his trust." ([03:50])

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Challenges in Production

The production faced several challenges, including the rigorous filming schedule and unexpected accidents. Kate Winslet suffered a serious injury during a pivotal scene, demonstrating remarkable resilience:

"Imagine us having this entire shoot in front of us and having two days of her running through the battle yet to come. And she just... hurt herself quite, quite seriously. She was incredible." ([09:05])

Despite setbacks, the team persevered, embodying the spirit of Lee Miller herself. Kuras highlighted the collaborative effort:

"It was one of those projects that we could feel the heartbeat of the person whose story we were trying to tell." ([07:25])

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Ellen Kuras's Directorial Insights

Ellen Kuras discussed how her background in documentary filmmaking influenced the direction of "Lee":

"Documentary has taught me how to think on my feet, how to be able to problem solve." ([16:13])

This approach allowed her to create a visually compelling narrative that stays true to Miller's experiences. Kuras emphasized the importance of the female gaze in portraying Lee Miller not just as a photographer but as a multifaceted individual battling trauma and striving to document the truth.

Furthermore, Kuras opened up about her personal journey with hearing loss and how advancements in hearing aid technology empowered her to take on the role of a director effectively:

"People who don't hear don't know how much and how critical it is to one's confidence, to one's being able to go out into the world." ([11:24])

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Portraying Lee Miller’s Psychological Struggles

The film delves deep into Miller's psychological state, highlighting her probable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):

"She absolutely had PTSD. And we do know that for sure because we had her son to tell us that." ([22:45])

A particularly poignant scene depicts Miller's internal struggle as she attempts to destroy her war negatives, symbolizing her effort to erase the traumatic memories:

"Once you've seen it, you can never unsee it." ([22:27])

This moment underscores the emotional burden Miller carried and the personal sacrifices she made to bear witness to the atrocities of war.

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Notable Scenes and Their Significance

One of the film's standout scenes involves Lee Miller cutting up her negatives in the British Vogue office. This act represents her desire to protect others from the horrifying images she captured, despite the historical importance of her work.

"If no one can see them, then I must destroy them." ([21:53])

Another significant moment is when Miller sits in Hitler's bathtub, a powerful image that encapsulates her fearless commitment to documenting truth, no matter the personal cost.

Ellen Kuras detailed the meticulous process behind recreating such scenes:

"We set the scene... so that Kate and Andy could find the core of that." ([25:17])

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Insights on Women in Photography

The discussion also touched upon the broader theme of women photographers whose work remained hidden or unrecognized during their lifetimes. Kuras highlighted the selflessness and resilience of women like Lee Miller, who prioritized documenting the truth over personal acclaim.

"There's something extraordinarily heroic... because that's not the point. The point is about making sure that no one's story ever goes untold." ([27:33])

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Conclusion

The episode provides an in-depth look into the making of "Lee", showcasing the dedication of Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras in bringing Lee Miller's story to a wider audience. Through their collaboration, they honor Miller's legacy, shedding light on her invaluable contributions to war journalism and photography. The film not only serves as a historical recount but also as a poignant exploration of the emotional and psychological impacts of war.

As the episode concludes, Alison Stewart previews upcoming segments, including conversations with Zoe Kravitz and Lin Manuel Miranda, promising more engaging discussions on culture and its creators.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• "It started with a table." – Kate Winslet ([03:43])
• "Some of the elements... being able to cut them out of herself, cut them out of her head." – Ellen Kuras ([10:17])
• "Once you've seen it, you can never unsee it." – Kate Winslet ([22:27])
• "People who don't hear don't know how much and how critical it is to one's confidence..." – Ellen Kuras ([11:24])
• "There's something extraordinarily heroic... to make sure that no one's story ever goes untold." – Ellen Kuras ([27:33])

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This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

Listener support, WNYC Studios.

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Thank you for spending your day with us. I'm grateful you're here. On the show today, some star power to kick off this week, film and music projects from some of our favorite artists. Zoe Kravitz talks about her directorial debut, Blink Twice. And Lin Manuel Miranda and Issa Davis talk about their concept album the warriors, Inspired by the 1979 film of the same name. Plus, John Legend released an album this year and it's for kids. We'll have a listening party with him for the record titled My Favorite Dream. But first, we start the show with Kate Winslet. Kate Winslet has won an Oscar, BAFTAs, Emmys and critics Choice Awards. And now she's nominated for two more Golden Globes. On Top of the five, she already has. Her role in the Regime earned her a nod for best actress in a miniseries or motion picture television. And she's nominated for best actress in a motion picture drama for her performance in the film Lee, about a model turned war photographer who was nearly forgotten by history. Lee Miller documented the harrowing images of World War II, the London Blitz, and was one of the first journalists to enter Dachau. We almost didn't know about her work. She kept it a secret until her death in 1977. Lee Miller's work for British Vogue was discovered in an attic by her family and they've worked to preserve it. Enter Kate Winslet. Kate has worked for the past eight years to bring the story of Lee Miller to film. She teamed up with director Ellen Kuras and made a movie the Guardian calls undeniably impactful, a woman's eye view of a photographer who cast a woman's eye over the war and its aftermath. Winslet and Kuris both joined me to discuss the film when it was released. Here's our conversation.

[Kate Winslet]

So, Kate, before this project, before Lee Miller, what had you thought about war photography?

[Ellen Kuras]

I have always felt profoundly grateful for the risks that war photographers and correspondents take in putting themselves in perilous positions in order to bear witness. And when I came across who Lee Miller truly was, who she really became as a flawed middle aged woman who had the courage and the determination to go into Europe During World War II, I was utterly overwhelmed at her integrity and her courage.

[Kate Winslet]

Ellen, you're also a cinematographer. What drew you to the images that Lee Miller made?

[Ellen Kuras]

Well, Lee was originally a surrealist, so she was experimenting with, you know, putting different objects together to create new meaning. And I found that very Fascinating. And it was only until later that I discovered who Lee was as a war correspondent and a war photographer. It wasn't until 2018 when Kate came to me and said, I have this script I've been working on for years. Would you be interested in directing this script? And what an opportunity to be able to make a story, such an important story about Lee Miller.

[Kate Winslet]

Kate, you've told this story before, but it's one of the better origin stories I've heard about a film. It started with a table.

[Ellen Kuras]

Yes, it's true. Some friends of mine who. Yes, of course, some friends of mine who live in Cornwall, which is the westerly most tip of the United Kingdom, they work in antiques and they specialize in very interesting pieces and they dig into research and they called me and they said, a table has come in and we think that you ought to bid on it. And I said, please tell me more. And it was a kitchen table, a large wooden table that was owned in the family, shared holiday premises of the Penrose family. So at the time that Lee and Roland Penrose, played brilliantly by Alexander Skarsgard in our movie, at the time that they were lovers, they would have these wonderful sort of hedonistic summers of love in this home in Cornwall. And this was the kitchen table. And many surrealists and creatives and poets would sit and feast and often they would be eating Lee's food. She was an incredible cook and she would prepare the food on this table and they would sit around. I bought the table and when it arrived in my home, honestly, if tables could talk, it really has a hum about it. And I sat there and I thought, lee Miller. I wonder why no one has made a film about her. And that was the beginning of my journey. And I knew that the most important thing that I should do would be to go and meet her son, Anthony Penrose, who lives in East Sussex, England, and he is the Keeper of the Archive. And I knew I wanted to not only ask for his blessing, but of course form a friendship and include him in this very important collaboration, because it wouldn't have been possible without, A, his trust, but B, his incredibly important creative input. And I have felt so fortunate to have truly had his steadfast support from the word go. It's been a really extraordinary experience.

[Kate Winslet]

Do you get a feeling when you sit at that table?

[Ellen Kuras]

You do, yes, you do. And actually, other people say the same thing. They're like, wow. And it's a very detailed piece of wood. It's cut from clearly one tree and it hasn't been hacked into slices. So it's a very solid, sturdy beast, and it feels like an old friend. And the knots and the whirls and the shapes of the wood are really quite something to behold. So it is quite a unique piece. It's not just any old table.

[Kate Winslet]

You have a terrific character. You have a terrific actress. Ellen, what does it take to get this made?

[Ellen Kuras]

Well, this was an independent film. So, you know, independent films about women, by women, you know, is not always easy to be accomplished, you know, And Kate, as a producer, you know, is really instrumental in being able to, you know, go to investors and talk to them and also to put together our cast. You know, we talked about who we could imagine in some of the those roles. And, you know, it was to our great advantage that Kate could call them up and say to Marion Cotillard, marion, you know, we're making this film. Would you like to join us? And that really helped us to put this film together and to be able to have the funds to be able to do it. And we shot nine weeks over three countries, which is, you know, quite a feat. And all of the actors came prepared, and everyone was really on board to, you know, get this film done. So, you know, we had an incredible production designer, Gemma Jackson, our entire head of departments crew was an incredible group of talented people that Kate and I have put together from our previous experience in the. In the film industry, having been, you know, in the industry for many, many years.

[Kate Winslet]

It sounds like it was really collaborative, Kate.

[Ellen Kuras]

It couldn't be any other way. It was one of those. It was one of those projects that we could feel the heartbeat of the person whose story we were trying to tell. Lee was somebody who embraced women. She embraced companionship, and she was an enormous champion of other people's work, especially when she would come across people who were perhaps holding back from living their truth because she could see that they had some shyness or some insecurity within themselves. She was spectacular at taking people under her wing, especially younger women. And we made this film in the spirit of who Lee was, made it with integrity, resilience, compassion, determination, and an enormous amount of courage. Because as Ellen just said, with independent film, sometimes what will happen is those finances that you might need to hit the account so you can actually pay people might not necessarily arrive on time. And you know what? You just dig deep and you say, let's hold our nerve. And Kate Solomon, my producing partner, and I occasionally had to put our hands in our pocket and just make sure that people were taken care of. Because we would not stop. The determination not to give up was really at the core of the making of this piece and the collaborative nature of it, especially with Tony Penrose really giving us that steady hand at our backs all the time, was absolutely invaluable and really critical that we had that.

[Kate Winslet]

I'm speaking with director Ellen Kuros and Kate Winslet. We're talking about the film Lee. So in the film, the huge firefight at the beginning of the film, we come back to it later. Bombs, people running, Lee's terrified. This was one of your first scenes that you filmed, Ellen? Yeah. Great.

[Alison Stewart]

Why did you pick such a huge.

[Kate Winslet]

Scene to film first?

[Ellen Kuras]

Well, yeah, it was actually the first two days of filming in Croatia. And, you know, that whole week we had a very loaded schedule anyway. But it was actually great for us to just dive into it and to be able to, you know, ourselves, in effect, run through the fire to get started on the film. And, you know, I mean, we had to plan it, you know, very meticulously before we got there. But we did have a pre shoot day, and one of the kind of stumbles that we had was we were doing our rehearsal and Kate came in running in from the bombing and slipped and, you know, and actually. And hurt herself quite, quite seriously. So imagine us having this entire shoot in front of us and having two days of her running through the battle yet to come. And she just. She was incredible. She motored through. I mean, it was really an incredible feat to be able to do that. And for us to get that kind of material that we did, it was very typical.

It was very typical of Lee Miller, who was constantly pulling the levers behind the scenes and somewhat dictating the order of things. And I. And I just sort of stared up to the heavens and kind of thanked her. In many ways. I had truly injured my back terribly. And whilst I was in agony, Lee herself famously was in excruciating back pain throughout the entire experience of being in Europe during World War II. And I just thought, okay, well, thanks. Thanks, Lee. That's another thing. And, yeah, we just. But, you know, when it's independent movies, you just carry on. There is no time to stop and come up with a plan B. And so, yeah, you just. Old school, you just, you know, you just put on your big pants and get on with it.

Yeah.

[Kate Winslet]

Ellen, in your work as director, something I think is really interesting, and I hope I'm not overstepping. I know that you have your hard of hearing.

[Ellen Kuras]

Yes.

[Kate Winslet]

And that really went into some of your choices. About should I direct? Could I direct? How did it factor into your decision to become a director? And then what did you learn working on the film?

[Ellen Kuras]

Well, you know, many people didn't know and haven't known that I'm, you know, almost deaf in my right ear and partially deaf in my left ear. So, you know, I was in a safe place behind the camera because, you know, I could be in my own little world and not have to worry about, you know, being able to hear every little thing, even though I could wear headphones while we were filming, you know, and oftentimes, I mean, Kate and I heard An Eternal Sunshine Michelle going, helen. But for me, I didn't feel confident because part of directing is being able to hear everything. And you need to be able to hear the actors. You need to be able to hear what's going on around you. There's a different kind of awareness. So it wasn't until basically 2010, or even earlier than that, 2008, right after I did my feature documentary, that I was introduced to these new hearing aids by President Bill Clinton, who I was with in Africa on the Clinton CGI tour. And it changed my life. People who don't hear don't know how much and how critical it is to one's confidence, to one's being able to go out into the world. And Kate was very aware of that as well, that, you know, hearing is essential. So, you know, here. Because hearing aids have never been really developed. Well, you know, for me, it was. It was one thing that changed my life. And I felt that I could go out. And I said, okay, now I can go out and direct. Because people have been asking me for many years, when are you going to start to direct?

[Kate Winslet]

Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that. Kate, what made her the right director?

[Ellen Kuras]

It wouldn't have made sense to have spoken to a male director about doing this. At a certain point, when something becomes so female in its heart, in its soul and in its courage, the very fabric of what you're doing, you know, that you need to keep it in a place that is honorable and is in line with one's own morals. And given that Ellen has had such a vast career as a cinematographer, bringing narratives to life in a powerfully visual way, that's what Lee did. That was her strength. It was her superpower. This unique way of seeing things that was utterly different to any man, and it just completely made sense.

[Alison Stewart]

You are listening to my conversation with Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras about their film Lee a biopic about the life of war photographer Lee Miller. We'll be right back.

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[On the Media]

On this week's on the Media how the map of the US we grew up with has never shown us our true selves.

If you looked up at the end of 1945 and you saw a US flag flying overhead, it was more likely that you were living in a colony or occupied zone than on the US Mainland empire.

On this week's on the Media from wnyc, find on the Media Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Kate Winslet is nominated for two Golden Globes next year, one for her role.

In the television series the Regime and.

The other for her performance in her.

Years long passion project about war photographer Lee Miller. Miller documented horrifying and historically important images of World War II, but kept her work a secret until her death in 1977. The film Lee documents her life and work during wartime and was directed by Ellen Kuras, a filmmaker who has also had a lot of experience in documentary work. Here's more of my conversation with Winslet and curious.

[Kate Winslet]

Ellen, your previous work, you balanced documentary and fiction work back and forth. How is your background in documentary film useful in Lee?

[Ellen Kuras]

Well, I think documentary has taught me how to think on my feet, how to be able to problem solve. Because you know when you're in documentary you're forced in a situation where you have to immediately think about what's the core of this story, you know, what do I need to film and from what point of view, so where can I get the camera so that I can best be able to tell that story? And that helped me enormously in trying to imagine what the visual component would be for Lee as well as the production design and other aspects of the film. Because need to think about what is the story, what is the story we want to tell and what's the point of view. And point of view is something that oftentimes even in narrative films, the director doesn't think about in Terms of, you know, how does the camera help to tell this story meaningfully? I mean, just not taking shots. It's about, you know, being able to create the blocking and create the story in a way that is meaningful to telling the story itself. So Kate and I talked a lot about, you know, the so called female gaze, you know, and how we could bring that into this film in a way that was not looking at Lee Miller, not watching her go through the beats of her life, but be able to bring us, the audience, closer to her as a character, as a real living person, you know, who we could identify with and we could go through her emotional journey with her. So there were different things that we did in the film. You know, I, I talked to the cinematographer, Pavel Edelman, about being able to bring the camera close to her, you know, following with her, being over her shoulder as well as we did it in post with sound, where we backgrounded all the sounds of the, of the explosions as Kate, as, as Lee, as Lee Miller running through that conflict, you know, through dodging bullets and the explosions. But the explosions are not foregrounded. We backgrounded them so we can bring the sound of her heart and her breathing closer together. So immediately we're saying we're with her as we go through the story.

[Kate Winslet]

Yeah, the film is about her as a photographer, but it's also about her as a person. Kate. And when you reflect back on it, how did you want to show what drove her to journalism?

[Ellen Kuras]

We knew that it was going to be impossible to tell a cradle to grave story about Lee Miller. We also knew that we didn't want to make a quote unquote biopic, but we wanted to focus on the defining decade of Lee Miller's life. When I believe Lee truly became Lee. You know, this was a woman who had walked away from the labels that were placed on her in her 20s, former muse, ex lover of man ray, former cover girl, these sort of slightly sexist, reductive terms that history was in danger of leaving Lee in that way under the male gaze. I knew it was important to lift her out and not only give her her place at the table, but to place her at the head of that table. This was not some up and coming photographer who wanted to make a name for her. This was a flawed middle aged woman who had already lived a lot of life. And it was important that we showed the pre war period of the holidays they have in the south of France, which really happened. Picasso would famously host these annual holidays in Mougins with all of these surrealists and creatives, and we needed to see that heyday. So we sense the joy in them and the unknowing of what is about to happen immediately. Pre war, Lee was someone who knew it was her duty to bear witness, who felt compelled to go to the front line and be that visual voice for the victims of conflict. Not photographing the soldiers and the bloodshed and the gunfire, but looking into the deep, dark cracks and corners and seeing the women and the children and the collaborators who were being shamed, having their heads shaved in the street and climbing into the train carriages on the outskirts of Dachau and standing amongst the horrors that she and Davy Sherman, played by Andy Samberg in our film, stumbled upon. Lee had a courage and a determination to bear witness and tell the stories of those innocent people that I have never known in my life. And had we not had her images, her very unique gaze, we may never appreciate this level of war photography in the way that we do now. She was at the beginning of reportage photography, and just thank goodness for Lee Miller and this extraordinary work that she gave us these historical documents for which she paid an enormous emotional, personal price.

[Kate Winslet]

Yeah. Let's play a clip from the film. This is actually a scene when Lee goes into the British Vogue offices and she begins cutting up some of the negatives of the films because they've declined to publish them. The British version, it begins with Lee speaking. Vogue editor Audrey Withers, played by Andre Riseborough, eventually comes in and begs her to stop. This is from Lee.

[Ellen Kuras]

These are mine.

[J]

I took them. I decide what happens to them. Lee, stop, stop, stop, stop. They're in historical record.

[Kate Winslet]

Well, who cares?

[J]

Nobody saw them. You didn't print them. I fought for them, Lee. I fought for them. These must be preserved. I want to sit to stand a filing cabinet. The Ministry thought they may disturb people. This happened. This. This really happened. Lee, Lee, Lee. This happened. These images will disturb people more than they've already been disturbed.

[Ellen Kuras]

People need to move on. Move on, Move on.

[J]

This little girl in a death camp, raped and beaten, how does she move on? How does she move on ever? Ever?

[Kate Winslet]

That's from the film Lee. We understand her son, Anthony Penrose, said that this actually happened with some of the Dachau negatives. And she told the darkroom assistant, I don't want anyone to have to see what I witnessed, but I'm leaving enough to make sure there's no doubt about what happened.

[Ellen Kuras]

Kate, that's true.

[Kate Winslet]

Do you believe she had ptsd?

[Ellen Kuras]

She absolutely had ptsd. And we do know that for sure. We know that because we had her son to tell us that. Lee became pregnant with Anthony Penrose very shortly after the war. And very unexpectedly, she actually didn't think she was capable of having children. Anthony was raised by a woman who had a dangerous relationship with alcohol and was permanently traumatized by the atrocities and the things that she had witnessed during World War II. And it really is true that the scene where she goes into the Vogue offices and she hacks into the Dachau negatives, when I was researching the film, Anthony introduced me to an elderly woman in her 90s who had been a 15 year old secretary at Vogue at the time that Audrey Withers was editor. When Lee came back from the war and into the office one day, drunk, furious and determined to find where her negatives were, and she took a huge pair of scissors and started hacking into those negatives, saying, if no one can see them, then I must destroy them. Almost physically trying to cut them out of herself, cut them out of her head. And this young girl told me that the only way she could get Lee to stop for fear that she was actually going to hurt herself with these scissors, was she turned to her and she said, now you look here, Lee Miller, those are my good scissors. You'd jolly well give them back. And Lee turned and she was somewhat taken aback by this young girl really taking a stand. And she quietly put the scissors down, stopped cutting and walked out. And when I was told that story, I knew that it had to be a part of our film because it's not only devastating to hear, and I've actually held those severed negatives in my own hands. It's that metaphor of what so many people were dealing with Post World War II, that thing of trying to cut the images out of their soul, out of their minds. And Lee's courage was just formidable. And even in that moment of trying to stop other people seeing it, and as we say in the film, once you've seen it, you can never unsee it.

[Kate Winslet]

One of Miller's most famous photos, Ellen is at her, she's sitting in Hitler's bathtub. You create the scene for the film when you were creating it. What was important to you to get that moment?

[Ellen Kuras]

I think what was important is that we have the flexibility to be able to find the core of the scene, that Kate and Andy Samberg, who's playing Davies Sherman, be able to have the flexibility to shape it in a way that we understood that Lee was deliberately doing this. She was deliberately making this, you know, almost like a performance to get this photo. She understood the meaning of all of the elements of going into this photo. But all of the nuances that happened in that. You know, it's the chemistry between Davey and Lee, Andy Samberg and Kate finding that together as they were both in that room. And we actually built the bathroom onto. In an apartment because there was no bathroom there. And also we wanted to be able to replicate it exactly. So we set the scene and it was a tiny bathroom, but enabling us to put the cameras there so that they could actually find that. That scene themselves and be able to experiment with it. Because some of the elements, as you see, Lee will grab the picture of Hitler to put by. By the. By the bathtub. You know, she stomps out the mud of Dachau, which. Where they had just come from on his bath mat before she gets into the bathtub. So, you know, all of those elements we needed to put into place. I need to put into place so that Kate and Andy could, you know, find the core of that.

[Kate Winslet]

And Andy Samberg is amazing.

[Ellen Kuras]

Amazing.

[Kate Winslet]

Really amazing and dramatic role. I'm sort of curious. And we're gonna wrap up very soon. I'm. This got me thinking about all these women photographers like Vivian Meyer, who nobody discovered her work, the nanny photographer in New York until she was dead and was found in a cabinet somewhere. I'm thinking about Lee Miller, whose furnace, whose work we didn't find because her family didn't find it until she died. What do you think about that? I've just been thinking about that a lot since watching the movie. These ideas of these people, these women taking these pictures and then not exposing anybody to them.

[Ellen Kuras]

Leigh was certainly somebody who, quite honestly, she didn't need to be queen. She didn't need attention. She didn't want attention, actually. Which is precisely why she lasted a couple of years as a model in front of the camera. Because she couldn't bear to be looked at. She was utterly selfless and in a strange way, remarkably unvain. Even though she cared a great deal in her own life about clothes and she loved crimson red lipstick. When Leigh came back from the war, I don't even think she made a conscious decision to hide her negatives and prints. I think it was something that she automatically did in order to try and never think about it ever again. And perhaps to protect people in her home from being exposed to the things that she had seen. So there's something extraordinarily heroic, I believe, about women who don't ask to be in the limelight and don't try and show the things that they did and created, because, of course, that's not the point. The point is about making sure that no one's story ever goes untold.

[Alison Stewart]

That was my conversation with Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras about their film Lee, for which Winslet is nominated for a Golden Globe Award. It is now streaming. Up next, Zoe Kravitz talks about her directorial debut, the psychological thriller Blink Twice.

Every day, our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart. But then there are moments that remind us us to be more human.

[Ellen Kuras]

Thank you for calling Ameca Insurance. Hey, I was just in an accident. Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of.

[Alison Stewart]

At Ameca, we understand that looking out for each other isn't new or groundbreaking.

[Kate Winslet]

It's human.

[Alison Stewart]

Amica Empathy is our best policy.

[WNYC Studios]

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