The Lives of Lee Miller, is based on the biography by her son Antony Penrose.

An exhibition of her work also takes place throughout August near her former home in Chiddingly.

The new movie is written and directed by John Maybury who has just had box office success with The Edge of Love starring Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller.

Antony Penrose said: 'I am delighted to be working with John Maybury and Norma Heyman to produce what I hope will be a British film.

'The project has been in discussion for many years, but the retrospective exhibition The Art of Lee Miller at the Victoria and Albert Museum has really brought the boost we needed. Now if all goes as planned the film could be out in 2010.'

Lee Miller was born in Poughkeepsie New York in 1907, began her career in front of the camera as a model.

She was, however, determined to become a photographer and set off for Paris, becoming the pupil, lover and muse of Man Ray, the most famous surrealist photographer of his day.

Miller became a surrealist photographer in her own right, then ran her own studio in New York shooting fashion and advertising before marrying an Egyptian and settling in Cairo.

In 1937 she met the British Surrealist artist Roland Penrose in Paris and left Egypt to move in with him in London just as war broke out.
Miller started work at Vogue studios and was their war correspondent, going ashore in France soon after D-Day.

She became the only woman combat photographer in Europe with the US Army, and covered the fighting from Normandy to Munich.

After the war she married Roland Penrose and with their son Antony went to live at Farley Farm in Chiddingly.

When she died in 1977 60,000 negatives were found in the attic of her Sussex farmhouse and today form the basis of the Lee Miller Archives.

A special exhibition Lee Miller at Farley Farm curated by Ian Chance of the educational charity Farleys Yard Trust is currently showing at Farleys Barn Gallery.

This is the first time there has ever been an exhibition of Lee Miller's work at her home, and the show is designed to tour to schools throughout the UK.

The show is open to the public from 3pm to 5pm every Sunday in August.