Kate Winslet has reflected on stripping off to recreate a ‘mind-blowing’ topless bathtub scene in her war biopic, Lee.
The actress, 49, played model-turned-WWII-photographer Lee Miller in the film, which was adapted from 1985 biography The Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose.
In one scene, Kate recreated the famous 1945 photo of Lee posing in Hitler’s bath after entering the Führer’s abandoned apartment in Munich.
She revealed Vogue editor Anna Wintour offered to help her recreate the iconic moment by sending acclaimed fashion photographer Annie Liebowitz to take the shot.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, she said: ‘The photo was taken by Annie Leibovitz. Anna Wintour was hugely supportive of the film and said, “If you are recreating the bathtub photo I will have to send Annie.”‘
Kate Winslet reflected on stripping off to recreate a ‘mind-blowing’ topless bathtub scene in her war biopic, Lee, during her appearance on The Graham Norton Show
Kate recreated a scene in which war photographer Lee Miller posed naked in Hitler’s bathtub in 1945 (pictured in the film Lee)
She revealed Vogue editor Anna Wintour (pictured) sent acclaimed fashion photographer Annie Liebowitz to shoot the photo when she found out Kate would be recreating the moment
Kate went on: ‘I was like, “Okay, if you have to!’
‘It was an extraordinary night, and the scene was mind-blowing – I couldn’t believe we were actually there as we had been developing the film for seven years.’
The real-life Lee Miller had gotten her lover at the time, Life photographer David Scherman, to take the shot as she bathed.
On the same day, Hitler killed himself along with his family as the Allies closed in on them at the end of WWII.
Kate discussed the film while appearing on The Graham Norton Show alongside Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, actor Jharrel Jerome, and British singer Celeste in scenes set to air on Friday evening.
The actress wore a suit on the chat show that she’d previously donned at the 2024 Women In Film Honors last month which has a special nod to Lee Miller on it.
The inside of her jacket has a quote from the photographer stitched into it which reads: ‘I’d rather take a picture than be one’.
When asked why she wanted to produce Lee, she said: ‘I knew who she was, and I knew her work, but she had a courage and determination that made me feel her story needed lifting out of the shadows – it just had to be told.
‘She was incredible, powerful, and she redefined femininity 80 years ago. She lived life on her terms at full throttle.
‘She had a courage I had never come across in all the other roles I have ever played.’
Kate wore a suit on The Graham Norton Show that she’d previously donned at the 2024 Women In Film Gala (pictured), which has a quote from Lee Miller stitched inside the jacket
Kate played model-turned-WWII-photographer Lee in the film (pictured with Marion Cotillard)
She called Lee Miller and ‘incredible’ and ‘powerful’ woman (pictured in the film)
Earlier this year, Kate revealed she ‘refused to cover up her belly rolls’ while filming Lee after a crew member told her.
The Titanic star recalled someone suggesting she sit up straighter to hide her rolls.
Kate told Harper’s Bazaar in August: ‘There’s a bit where Lee’s sitting on a bench in a bikini.
‘One of the crew came up between takes and said: “You might want to sit up straighter.”
‘So you can’t see my belly rolls? Not on your life! It was deliberate, you know?’
Kate starred in arguably one of cinema’s most iconic nude scenes n 1997’s Titanic while playing Rose, where she reclined on a sofa and asked love interest Jack – played by Leonardo DiCaprio – to ‘paint her like one of his French girls’.
Kate famously stripped off for a naked scene in Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio in 1997
Meanwhile while filming a sex scene for Mare Of Easttown in 2021, she wanted her character to be portrayed as ‘a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age.’
‘I think we’re starved of that a bit,’ Kate said of the scarcity of unfiltered and realistic female bodies on film and television during an interview with the New York Times.
While acknowledging her ‘unglamorous’ appearance in the show may be surprising to some viewers, she said she turned down director Craig Zobel’s offer to edit out ‘a bulgy bit of belly.’
‘Don’t you dare,’ she recalled telling him after he assured her the angle wouldn’t air.
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One on Friday November 8 at 10.40pm.