The life of an iconic American war correspondent and photographer is examined in Director Ellen Kuras’ biographical drama, Lee.
Kuras’ film portrays a pivotal decade in the life of Lee Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II and whose singular talent and unbridled tenacity resulted in some of the 20th century’s most indelible images of war.
On October 13 after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Kuras discussed the making of Lee during a Q&A moderated by Director Phillip Noyce (Fast Charlie). She also spoke about the film during a conversation moderated by Director Mary Harron (Daliland) following the New York DGA screening on October 27.
During the Los Angeles conversation, Kuras – who is also an award-wining cinematographer – spoke about how she used color in the film.
“I knew for this film I wanted to use color as part of the story. I had seen a film many years ago called Jude which Edwardo Cero shot and which he used bleach bypass to slowly make the film more contrasty to track the evolution of the characters. So, I knew I wanted to use that grade. I wanted to start to desaturate it and make it go darker as it went to the end. So, we talked a lot about that. I also talked to the production designer, Gemma Jackson, about how to create the pallet in the beginning so that we know in the south of France, it was a time where people were unsuspecting of what was around the corner, it helped support that part of the story. But then when we went into the war it starts to become more monochromatic and darker and helps us to get into the emotion of the character.”
Kuras’ other directorial credits include the movie for television Play is your superpower; episodes of the mini-series Inventing Anna; episodes of the series Extrapolations, The Terminal List, The Umbrella Academy, Brave New World, The Son, Legion and Falling Water; and the Academy Award-nominated documentary feature The Betrayal.
Kuras has been a DGA member since 2010 and has served as a member of the Eastern Directors Council.