At the age of 46 years old, actor Andy Samberg is still not escaping the NJB allegations.
This week, actress Kate Winslet promoted her new movie “Lee” on the BBC. In the interview, Kate shared a very wholesome and Jewish anecdote about the former SNL comedian who co-stars in the film. “Andy Samberg who, he played Jewish photographer David Scherman, who was, sort of [Lee Miller’s] right-hand man through the war, they were very close friends, and as a Jewish man himself, Andy Samberg, he really wanted this part and he put himself out there and he auditioned and he really went for it. And I was the lucky one asked to make that call and say, ‘We’d love you to play this role,'” Winslet shared.
Andy Samberg’s response? According to Winslet, he replied: “My [mom’s] going to be so proud.” If Andy Samberg has no fans then Hey Alma is dead.
The 48-year-old British actress then went on to praise Samberg’s acting chops and recounted that the role “meant so much to him.” Beyond the Jewishness of the film, one can assume playing David Scherman was personal for Andy Samberg given that his own father is a photographer.
@bbc Kate Winslet talks about the casting of ‘Brooklyn Nine Nine’ star Andy Samberg, usually known for his comedy role, in her new film ‘Lee’. #iPlayer #iPlayer #KateWinslet #AndySamberg
“Lee” is a biographical war drama about Lee Miller, an American model who became a war correspondent during World War II. It’s adapted from “The Lives of Lee Miller,” a biography written by her son, Antony Penrose. Covering the war for Vogue, Miller photographed the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris and Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps after they were liberated. As Winslet explains in the BBC interview, Andy Samberg co-stars in the movie as Jewish photographer David Scherman, a war correspondent for Life Magazine. It’s Samberg’s first dramatic role.
In real life, Miller and Scherman teamed up for many assignments during their time in Europe, the most famous of which is Scherman’s photograph of Lee Miller posing in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler’s Munich apartment. After touring Dachau on the morning of April 30, 1945 — coincidentally the morning Hitler committed suicide — Miller and Scherman became among the first to come to Hitler’s apartment. Scherman’s photos of the bathtub took aim at the German dictator, mocking and disrespecting him by including a vanity portrait on the ledge of the tub, a piece of his art on a side table and Miller’s boots, carrying the dust of Dachau, dirtying the bathroom floor. The pair then switched places and Miller photographed Scherman in the tub.
“Now if you were to see the photo of Scherman, Lee tilts up to fully include the showerhead prominently,” Miller’s son Antony Penrose once explained. “Why? Because Scherman was Jewish and that morning they had been in a very different type of shower room, one that was disguised as such, but was in fact a gas chamber. There are thousands of words in those two pictures.”
Based on the clips included in the trailer, it seems that “Lee” highlights Scherman and Miller’s working relationship and friendship. One part of the trailer shows the Hitler bathtub moment, while another shows Lee Miller comforting a sobbing Scherman. There’s no context given to the latter moment, but one can assume Scherman is breaking down after witnessing some of the destruction the Nazis wrought. Given Kate Winslet’s praise and the fact that the role means so much to him and his mom, it seems like “Lee” is an unmissable Andy Samberg performance.
“Lee” comes out in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sept. 13, 2024. It will be released in the U.S. on Sept. 27, 2024.
