Kate Winslet shines light on untold war story

British actress' biopic of World War II photographer Lee Miller took almost a decade to make

- Alison de Souza

They played lovers Jack and Rose in the iconic 1997 disaster film Titanic, the first movie to make more than US$1 billion at the global box office.

And American actor Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, and British actress Kate Winslet, 49, have been friends ever since, with DiCaprio describing his former co-star as "one of the great talents of my generation".

He says this while introducing Winslet at a screening of her new biographical drama Lee, held in Los Angeles in November.

The movie, which opens in Singapore cinemas on Jan 16, casts Winslet as the late Lee Miller, an American fashion model who became a photographer for British Vogue during World War II.

DiCaprio is not in the film, which also stars Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgard and Marion Cotillard.

But the star - who won the Best Actor Oscar for survival drama The Revenant (2015) - says Winslet has been bending his ear about this project for almost a decade.

"Kate has dedicated herself to the film and to honouring Lee's legacy over the course of nine years," he says.

"I remember her speaking about this to me personally nine years ago. This has been a massive passion project for her.