October Cover Star Kate Winslet Talks Ice Baths, Antique Tables, and Her New Film

Vogue

Lee Miller’s photographs “are amongst some of the most significant historical images ever taken, and people don’t really know that,” says Winslet of the inspiring subject of her forthcoming film, “Lee.”  Director: Luke Spencer Director of Photography: Arthur Loveday Editor: Evan Allan Senior Producer: Jordin Rocchi Associate Director, Creative Development: Alexandra Gurvitch Producer, On-set: Benjamin Whitley Camera Operators: Bradley Panda, Matt Farrant Assistant Camera: Chanthila Phaophanit Gaffer: Laurent Arnaud Audio: Valerio Cerini Photographer: Annie Leibovitz Behind the Scenes Photos: Antony Penrose Production Coordinator: Ava Kashar Production Manager: Kit Fogarty Line Producer: Romeeka Powell Senior Director, Production Management: Jessica Schier Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds Post Production Coordinator: Jovan James Supervising Editor: Kameron Key Post Production Supervisor: Edward Taylor Entertainment Director: Sergio Kletnoy Director of Content, Production: Rahel Gebreyes Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson Executive Producer: Ruhiya Nuruddin VP, Digital Video English: Thespena Guatieri Filmed on Location: The Ham Yard Hotel © Lee Miller Archives, England 2023. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk Roland Penrose © Lee Miller Archives, England 2023. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk Antony Penrose © Lee Miller Archives, England 2023. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk David E. Scherman © Courtesy Lee Miller Archives, England 2023. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk  SAG-AFTRA members are currently on strike; as part of the strike, union actors are not promoting their film and TV projects. This interview was conducted prior to the strike.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Hello, hello.

00:06 Welcome.

00:07 - Thank you.

00:08 - To an in conversation with Vogue.

00:09 It's a real pleasure to have you here.

00:11 - Thank you very much.

00:11 I don't think I've ever done one of these before actually.

00:13 Been interviewed for Vogue many times in the past.

00:15 Yeah, I've never had a sit down

00:17 in front of a camera like this.

00:18 So it's lovely.

00:19 - Well, it's lovely to have you.

00:20 Having known and watched you for almost my entire life,

00:23 I actually feel like I can't imagine a day in the life

00:26 of Kate Winslet if you felt so bold as to talk me through it.

00:29 - It usually involves making lists,

00:31 shopping lists and things I need to do.

00:35 Our home is full of things and chaos

00:37 and color and dogs and people.

00:39 And there's always food smells, absolutely always.

00:42 We keep chickens, which I love.

00:44 So there's often, you know,

00:46 the gathering of the chicken eggs.

00:47 We don't live on a farm.

00:48 We live by the sea.

00:49 We are not isolated at all.

00:50 We very much live in a lovely neighborhood community

00:53 with great people around us.

00:55 There's always water involved, particularly cold water.

00:58 So there's usually a cold water dip that will take place.

01:00 - I was gonna say, very good for the noggin,

01:02 the cold water dunking, isn't it?

01:02 - We do, we are no strangers to ice baths in our house.

01:05 - Very good.

01:06 - If ever anyone gets a bit blue or troubled by something,

01:09 we're like, okay, get in an ice bath.

01:11 - Those dopamine levels, they stay up.

01:13 - I'm telling you, so there's a lot of that.

01:14 - But then I suppose there's times like probably this autumn

01:16 with, you know, Lee coming out and where one goes

01:19 into the other bit of an actor's life.

01:21 For those people in the world who might not know

01:24 who Lee Miller is, tell us a little bit about her.

01:25 And obviously you're a producer on the project as well.

01:29 How was that kind of side of things?

01:30 - Well, it was really, honestly, it was really me.

01:33 I, it's a fun and interesting story, actually.

01:37 I have some really great friends who live down in Cornwall

01:39 who work in antiques and they called me and they said,

01:42 "Oh, Kate, we know how much you love tables," which I do.

01:44 And I said, "Well, what is it?"

01:46 And it had come from the home of a relative

01:49 of Roland Penrose, who Lee married and became her husband,

01:52 played by Alex Skarsgård in our film.

01:54 The table had been in the center of the kitchen

01:57 where these sort of hedonistic summers of love would happen.

02:00 This was this kind of much talked about, much loved table

02:03 in the lives of these people

02:05 in the beginning of their relationships.

02:07 Anyway, I bought the table and then I thought,

02:10 "Well, Lee Miller, Lee Miller, oh God,

02:11 why has no one made a film about her?"

02:13 So it started with that.

02:14 - What kind of fascinated you so much?

02:16 - So Lee Miller was a woman who,

02:18 after having a short-lived career as a model

02:20 and the muse of Man Ray,

02:21 learned everything underneath him as a photographer.

02:25 Lee finds herself in London and it's the Blitz

02:28 and it was a woman's role to go out

02:31 and contribute to the war effort,

02:33 but being an American, that was very hard for her to do.

02:35 And so she went to the offices of Vogue in London

02:38 and she got herself a job as a photographer

02:40 documenting the Blitz.

02:41 And when the time came, she fought her way to the front line

02:45 and went to war and photographed what was happening,

02:48 the atrocities of the Nazi regime.

02:50 She came from quite a flamboyant, interesting world.

02:53 And so to put herself in a position as a woman

02:56 in a dangerous environment in order to document the truth,

03:01 that for me was the reason I,

03:04 as a person who struggles with injustice myself,

03:08 it was so important that that was the story that we told,

03:11 but also that we dispelled all the myths

03:13 about Lee as the model, the muse,

03:15 and showed her as the cracked, broken,

03:18 tricky middle-aged woman who went to war.

03:22 - Even at Vogue, we're a little bit guilty

03:24 of building that kind of myth of like

03:26 the most beautiful model who then became

03:28 the most serious of 20th century documenters.

03:31 And that can fit a little bit

03:33 into our own little kind of box.

03:34 - Yeah, I mean, she's never had her real moment

03:37 as the real her.

03:38 She was flawed and she was messy.

03:40 - She takes that pain, she takes it to the front line

03:43 to document the things that no one will say.

03:45 It's extraordinary.

03:47 - Her documentation, for example,

03:49 of the liberation of the concentration camps,

03:51 her images are amongst some of the most significant

03:54 historical images ever taken.

03:55 And people don't really know that.

03:57 - The scenes are deeply affecting

04:00 and have echoes of Lee's own work.

04:02 How was it coming to those kind of mornings

04:04 and heading off the set those days?

04:06 - I mean, really just horrendous.

04:08 There were days that were just so horrendous,

04:09 but actually my job specifically

04:12 across the shooting of those scenes

04:14 actually was to look after Andy Samberg.

04:16 So Andy Samberg, who plays Dave Churner.

04:18 - Can we talk about the reinvention of Andy Samberg?

04:20 - I know. - 'Cause it's extraordinary.

04:21 - Well, there are people who'll see this film

04:22 and go, "Wow, who's that actor?"

04:23 Here's Andy Samberg playing his first ever serious role.

04:27 And this is a guy who auditioned and auditioned again

04:29 and wanted to go on tape again

04:31 and wanted to be sent research material

04:34 so he could prepare for the auditions.

04:35 And he was absolutely amazing.

04:37 I was the lucky one who got to make that phone call

04:40 and say to him, "We'd love you to play Davey."

04:41 And that was a very emotional moment.

04:43 So Andy is a Jewish man.

04:45 And for him, he was dreading those scenes

04:48 and knowing that I was gonna have to

04:51 just have his back, really.

04:53 It's horrible when you recreate that stuff

04:55 because it looks real, it feels real.

04:58 And sometimes we forget as actors

05:00 that there are things that we have to do

05:03 where we really are recreating or sometimes creating

05:07 an emotion, a trauma, a moment

05:10 in order to be able to live it.

05:11 And make it real.

05:12 And there were many moments like that.

05:14 Lee goes back to Vogue on her return to London

05:16 because she is upset at the lack of images

05:19 that are printed. - Of course.

05:20 - And there's that scene with Audrey

05:21 and the cutting up of the Dachau negatives.

05:23 And I have to tell you that that actually happened.

05:25 And so I always knew that we would be

05:28 creating a version of that scene

05:30 and making it our own for our story.

05:32 And honestly, Andrea and I, we've both said

05:35 that by far that particular day of filming

05:39 was the hardest day of work

05:43 or creating something as an actor

05:45 that we've ever done, either of us, ever.

05:47 I almost felt a bit sort of possessed.

05:49 I felt a little bit as though I had been inhabited

05:52 by Lee or something.

05:53 It really was quite strange.

05:55 It has been by far the most important preparation

05:59 for any role that I've ever done

06:00 because no one might play her again for a long time.

06:04 And I want what I have been able to contribute

06:07 in terms of bringing her to life

06:09 to be something that is important

06:11 and resonates with people.

06:13 And should other people play her in years to come,

06:16 I would hope to be part of a group of women

06:19 who are telling Lee's story in a way that might last.

06:23 - How did your shoot with Annie go?

06:24 - It was so amazing.

06:26 The first time I was photographed by Annie Leibovitz,

06:28 I can't actually believe I'm gonna say this,

06:30 but I was 21 years old.

06:32 I think we both as women have evolved massively as people.

06:36 And all of that comes into your work.

06:38 She's playful in the way that Lee

06:40 was also very, very playful.

06:42 I mean, that almost defines really who Lee was.

06:45 - Has the process of doing it all taught you

06:46 kind of anything about coping and life?

06:48 - Well, what I did find is that she and I

06:50 are phenomenally similar.

06:52 You know, that sense of no matter what's happened,

06:54 no matter how hard I think I might have it,

06:57 I absolutely do not.

06:58 And I have no right to ever complain.

07:01 And that ability, that remarkable feminine resilience

07:04 to just keep going.

07:06 I wish I'd known her.

07:07 I wish I'd known her.

07:08 We would have been great mates.

07:10 - Listen, Kate, thank you so much for talking to Vogue.

07:11 - Thank you.

07:12 - It's been gorgeous in conversation.

07:14 - Really lovely, thank you.

07:16 (upbeat music)

07:18 (upbeat music)

07:21 (upbeat music)

07:23 (upbeat music)

07:26 (upbeat music)

Category

Transcript

Recommended