Conversations with Renée Zellweger

thank you guys so much for being here my name is Janelle Riley I'm an editor at variety I cannot tell you how excited I am to be doing this career cute conversation with Renee Zellweger since her breakthrough roles in films like Empire Records and Jerry Maguire this is an actress who is always surprising us with bold choices and terrific performances she is of course a three-time Academy Award nominee for her work in cold mountain like notes cut off there but I actually know this off the top of my head Chicago and Bridget Jones diary Oh whew okay pulled that out she has created such indelible characters that include but are not limited to Roxie Hart Bridget Jones nurse Betty and Dorothy Boyd still I doubt even her biggest fans were prepared for her completely transformative work as Judy Garland and Judy for which she has already earned Golden Globe Spirit Award and SAG Award nominations please welcome Renee Zellweger [Applause] I put this here [Applause] we go [Applause] thank you what kind welcome thanks so much thank you so much for being here these are all fellow actors fellow members I knew I didn't need to change into fancy clothes yeah I know it so I actually always like to start at the beginning and ask how did you get your sag card what was the job that that brought that to you right that's a conundrum isn't it did you guys remember that going right okay so I just have to work in a sad thing to get my sag card but I can't work in his neck thing and was that my son card I didn't major in math but no even if I did that there's no way around that I course I well that's right it was course like commercial of course like commercial and I think it was just an accidental fluke kind of thing I don't think it was meant to be anything special and then suddenly I think it was one of those mystery upgrades that you don't understand at that time yeah that was it was a mystery upgrade do you have a line in it do you remember oh absolutely not now I played volleyball on the beach and burnt my redness on the reflector foil and rollerbladed down a hill before I knew how to stop sometimes you lie special skills was that shovel shot out here did you shoot that at Texas still we went to Mexico Wow yes okay so this is when you were still living in Texas and they flew down to Mexico yeah that's amazing Wow and going to Mexico I actually want to go go back and start at the beginning because you were born and I believe raised in Katy Texas which is you know far away from the bright lights of Hollywood when did you know that you wanted to be an actor in college on the set of the thesis film that director student of film was making and there were maybe five of us who were on her cast and crew you know so I viewed the room sometimes yeah yeah young woman she was in reclaim Rick Linklater his class it's just kind of fun and yeah she just needed some some actors and so anytime anyone asked me how do I get a start I don't know now because all the online stuff it seems there's so much more of an opportunity to be seen but I still think going down there to the film school and submitting your headshot it's worthwhile right is that still good advice or am i giving away my friend yeah you're working with the next generation of filmmakers possibly okay so that was it we were on the set in the middle of nowhere and we were doing this Flannery O'Connor short story or hurt her and her interpretation of it and and I I don't know I got the bug no I just got I just I didn't understand why this felt very important to me but I couldn't wait for the next opportunity was this the first thing you've done acting yes I to make some money I had done a little bit of commercial photography with local you know Austin still an art town and the place was just chock-a-block with artists of you know in every medium when in the 90s when I was you know out there so this one's going to be a photographer he news models and this one's right music and he needs a singer and this one's you know and so you kind of hop around with your friends and do these little projects together so I had done a lot if you know just local print stuff just for you know for friends and then I had done some commercial work to pay for college cuz for you boy those residual checks go along see what someone who did like school plays or anything like that I did but I looked I was really small and I looked younger than I was and so my theatre director kind of had a hard time taking me seriously really yeah so where is he now she she she knows he's still teaching and she was a lot of fun and it was fun you know did one act plays and we did Children's Theater every year at spring break we would do a children's play and we would be the field trip for the elementary schools they would come and see our our little play that we put on so long ago oh that's really cool left it so when you made the decision that this was something you want to pursue it pursue as a career did you take classes were you completely self-taught so where did you even start I took a theater class as a requirement to get my degree I didn't I didn't do it because I thought I wanted to be an actress really no I remembered that I loved it as a kid but I thought I was gonna write and this was a requirement to get your fine arts you know thank goodness it's still a requirement and yeah I just I went in took the class because it fit fit in the schedule between my late-night you know job and everything else that was going on and I I loved it really yeah but that wasn't it it was it was that thesis film did you actually like learn a certain method in that class that you still use today No [Laughter] we didn't really study we just performed things so you would write your own stuff and then you would perform it yeah it was a way of learning at yeah yeah yeah and you actually booked quite a few things when you're in Texas I believe eight seconds yeah down there yeah John G Hamilton yeah great director and I believe you did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre next generation booked in Texas best workout of my life which starred future fellow Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey I think I I mean it sounds silly but when you were on that set could you tell like he was going places for us on that set yeah we were just excited that we had a job yeah and so the goal was to get another job you know and so we I mean I don't know maybe he had dreams and things well I knew he was gonna move out to Los Angeles I knew that he was he was reading for other roles in films and not long after he moved out here and he got angels in the outfield I think it was probably because people were responding to Dazed and Confused before it was released because when we were shooting Chainsaw Massacre that film wasn't released yet and yeah so he yeah he moved out about I think six months maybe nine months a year before I before I did what was the deciding factor in you movie not to Los Angeles it was it was a hard one because it wasn't in the cards really well not the cards that I picked for myself anyway but when does that ever work I was I want to stay in Texas I just thought I just keep working and I can live in my town and stay here with my friends and make a living you know but at that time that wasn't true it might be more true now we were booking a lot of work I was busy yeah I was busy but at some point I understood that it wasn't a job it was a creative opportunity and it was with every job becoming increasingly more important to me and I can't explain it I've thought a lot about it but why does a painter choose canvas and paint I don't know why don't I make sculptor I don't know photography you know whatever it is that grabs your heart it's sort of inexplicable and that's what was happening to me and my opportunities to work continued but my opportunity to grow as an artist was a little bit stifled there wasn't a lot of film that came to town it was wonderful though because when you did work on a film that was the same crew so you knew everybody oh no it's great there were you know a couple of players that would come and go because some things were shooting simultaneously but it was much rarer than that you had three or four films happening in Texas at once and now it's you know staying pretty standard but yeah I got this call and I was going through this very you know this thinking up did I really I don't think I have to go I can stay here and I can stay here and the phone rang and it was my agent saying hey I don't got a job for you that's it yep see there you go I'd go anywhere and he said it's up in Dallas you gotta go you know tomorrow from Jude's Long John Silver's and I got that's good money ya know you can make a you can make a killing on John Silver's you know now I just I am I thought right I get it I get it and I want to explore different creative experiences I would need to go where there were more opportunities well I was curious because I know you received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut performance for 11 a 45 and after that I was wondering if that raised your profile of people were encouraging you to come out or it was always going to be the plan and I had just come out at that point okay and the phone started to ring which is really weird because I didn't give anybody my phone number so it was weird and this is before social media right Hollywood man they look behind you right so yeah it was just you know it was a friend of a friend from a producer of a thing and you know from 11 to 45 that film which I had shot while I was still living in Los Angeles oh you did shoot that no I mean I'm sorry Texas I was still living in Austin yeah and one of I think your big sort of breakthrough roles was Empire Records which has like such a beloved cult following I did you know sort of at the time that you were onto something special because that's one of those movies that I don't know if it made a big impact that's on the time but in the year since its release people love that movie yeah it was it's so weird to think that it was sort of I don't know at the tail end of an era yeah it didn't seem like that at the time that that it was going to change so profoundly in just a matter of I know maybe five years but now I it was more it was just an adventure at the time it was special because the actors were a lot of fun and it was like we were at Warhol's Factory or something but yeah Allen who directed the film was such a savant and he was so creatively fluid and he wanted everything to kind of flow and to see what happened quite quite a bit so that was my first experience with that I was pretty fun if you gone back and watched that recently or are you someone who never watches your performances every day come on over guys it holds up really well I really think it was ahead of its time yeah well I'll have to go back an apple oh yeah yeah I mean it felt it it felt cool yeah yeah at the time it's a great guy yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure I mean you followed that with a what I think was your big commercial breakthrough with Jerry Maguire where you played the single mother who falls for Tom Cruise's title character I know that that was a big get as they say a lot of people wanted that role Tom Cruise was probably has never been awhile he's still doing really well don't get me wrong but that was really at the peak of his fame what do you remember about the process of booking that role Wow everything I remember everything really oh I remember everything about that except what song I was playing it was by a band called everything but the girl and my manager gave me the CD the day before and I remember popping into the player and rolling all the windows down and laughing all the way to Sony was it for the audition or when you got the part it was for the audition huh yeah yeah I mean did you realize what a big deal this was when those sides came in and when you first went in for the meeting or did you try not to think about it I never really it didn't really seem like a possibility to me so it didn't really matter you know I just want to do a good job for the casting director who I really liked and then I wanted to do a good job for Cameron when I met him he just felt kindred to me right away you know he's a music guy you know I didn't know that at all I didn't understand at the time this is really embarrassing especially being that I did go to university that the posters on the wall in James Brooks office yeah we love the same thing that's awesome I get it now yeah I was 19 I was green and I wasn't you know I wasn't looking for anything so there was never any disappointment it was all just really cool and just a very neat adventure just to see what would happen next and the fact that that was gonna be on the list was hilarious to me you know has that happened you know you must be good at auditioning I'm presuming um oh I don't know you did pretty well out of the gate oh yeah you didn't see me in Woody Allen's office oh yeah no no no if you look up circle the drain there's my picture in the chair this is after Jerry Maguire was before oh okay it was right after love and a45 came out which I guess was in like 94 and I didn't really grow up a connoisseur of film I mean I'm on a cinephile I didn't we didn't have access to movie care where I lived and we don't have cable so you know you watched Wizard of Oz and you watch The Sound of Music every year there's one more in there it's wonderful life there's that one cause my time and what's that oh sure yeah I went to see that at the movies because you know back in the day when they played children's movies for like a month remember that yeah it's dated theaters yeah yeah so I didn't I didn't know Woody Allen's work but all my friends that I had made out in Los Angeles were very aware of you know his importance as a filmmaker and then I got nervous and then I was flying I got it this is premature this is really teasing this is too soon I'm not ready for this do you think that you self sabotage or you were just 9% yeah really oh no it's fine part of the adventure it's a lot better story than everything went great that's great I mean did you have to do a CEO did you just freeze up or do a scene yeah it was um for mighty Aphrodite Oh Anna and the scene was I mean it's cold you know you don't know what you're gonna do all that you get there so Yuki hands to the sides and um and did you guys know the mighty Aphrodite film with you're so right Yeah right she's fantastic in this film yeah so it didn't matter if I was if I did the best audition of my life it would not have happened or had been that you know she was amazing so yeah it's not really explicit the scene where she's talking about having multiple partners at one time hi nice to meet you learn these words that I don't really use so no two pair oh wow yeah it was cool though I went into his projection room and there was celluloid and it was on the floor you know there was life is goings everywhere in this magazine like a hot rod magazine which I thought was interesting but what it cools what a cool story to have been in Woody Allen's cutting room yeah it's almost better that it went badly now you'll remember it I'm going with that battle you're Jerry Maguire audition must have gone pretty well because you landed the part do you remember when you got the news cuz you said you couldn't even believe this was happening I mean when did it finally sink in well um we were at Sundance with with the whole wide world oh sure which was Dan Ireland's first picture and he started he's passed now very sad about that but what an adventure that was we shot that in Austin in 1995 in the summer and here we were going to Sundance what this was your first time in Sundance a second I went for five minutes for love and that's why thought and met John Carradine oh there oh that's your manager to this day he's my man no I met him at trial Sorry Sorry hard drives get wait how long have you guys been together how long have we been married 26 years 26 years he's been your manager wow that's amazing cool yeah so you were there at the Sundance Film Festival and set when you got the word yeah it had been a while and so I kind of was felt though knows right yeah it's okay I had great day a lot of fun on the set at Sony doing the screen test yeah a lot of fun and so my whole family came up because because we were going to Sundance for the whole wide world premiere and so I'm a mom and dad came and my dog was there and my brother had gone out because know we were okay we were get the phone rang and and it was Cameron and he said hey hey Z I said hi and here it comes you know he's like so so I say you know it was really great hanging out and getting to meet you and I mean thank you I'm not just hurry up and break my heart already and it's great you did great job and you know he's just a lot of fun and I just wanted to thank you for um for you know coming out and doing all that with us yeah no thank you it was awesome he's jazz like she wondered if you know um maybe you maybe you won what's the part what did you say I told him I have to say about was available so so the next day I think there was an announcement about it and in variety or something like that this was I guess my first big deal singing my brother went out to get the variety cuz you know they throw around this thinking about it I mean he is that Dorothy was such a was like I talk like she's passed or something but she's such a great character it's such a great movie I just have a question from the audience I think it's Richard is that correct says I fell in love with you and Jerry McGuire like the rest of the world did how many times a week do you hear you had me at hello and do you ever tire of that no there's a couple times I don't go out much so you know it'd be weird if I heard it a lot here inside the house you know by it's still touching it's what a cool thing you know that somebody gives you a line like that right come on yep hey he's a hell of a writer that man a name he's really really great filmmaker yes how did that movie sort of change your your not only your career obviously it really shot you into the stratosphere but how did it change your life both you know whether in a good way or sometimes a negative way when you're suddenly put in the spotlight like that um well there's that I know that it changed my life in ways that I don't really see because it because you know John Kirby know is there and he's busy or yeah so there's that but you know I went to go to a little film and in New York called price Babu be right for like five cents we were not getting a very different character - yeah it was a great experience that was you know back in the honey wagons where the toilet is your couch is your you know table don't worry so creepy when it's cushions diving cushion but I was doing that when all this other stuff was going on really and I didn't go I didn't do promotion for Jerry Maguire in fact I asked John Cabrillo if I could please have a publicist person to say no for me because I didn't want to upset anybody I wanted to be responsible and grateful but I wasn't ready to be the lady on the couch Wow you know I wouldn't ready for that I knew that that was gonna turn my life upside down and I just kind of wanted to put my toe in the water and step in slowly so did you do any interviews mmm I think I went on O'Donnell yeah okay so I did that and and I'm I'm I think I might have like a Woody Allen personality because I think I brought the Woody Allen personality to the Rosie show I'm pretty sure the the nervous you may watch tits oh yeah person no come on I mean it doesn't matter it's just one of those things when it's so surreal that you kind of don't have the content or what it is that you're experiencing well it's a it's a weird situation too differently someone onto a set with a giant audience and you know just start chatting so times gonna be bumpy probably so I did that and I think maybe took some pictures I think maybe and then when price where boobies came out or something I think I did a press junket for that because it was a smaller film mm-hmm which the National Board of Review for that and didn't interview so that I remember that way is anybody still awake out there I'm boring myself to sleep well it's actually it's interesting because by the year 2000 OVI really want to touch on is nurse Betty which was such a while ago such a dark comedy but really like heart-wrenching movie from Neil LaBute and I know that you won a Golden Globe Award for your performance but you were in the bathroom when they called your name yeah I'm starting to wonder if you were purposely hiding like I'm a complex I don't have a complex this is early days new experiences brand new I just finished Bridget Jones I think I'd gone through a breakup you know big heartbreaking breakup thing now as they are I guess that's why it's called a breakup anyway and then it's time to put on a dress and go you know do your thing and you really don't even really feel like you know putting on jeans to go to the coffee shop you know let alone but anyway what a treat to be invited to that yeah super it was cool but I felt really awkward cuz what cuz you can't before you learn how to do something like that it feels you know it was a privilege and I loved my dress and all that stuff you know but I guess when your brain is someplace else it it's a it's a skill that you develop to compartmentalize to sort of put your personal life side and go and enjoy this moment that might never happen again right and so there was a lot of that and so I was with my friend I was with John Kirby know and my friends and it was really neat it was a fun night and and I got out the red carpet and you know they were like condolences in the interviews like you know so you did you know it's not about winning right what's about if you know it's that you know this movie really you know it touch people and you know whatever wasn't by the end of the thing I say I can't so set up my table and you know I was just thinking about how I'm uncomfortable I was at that moment I thought you know I could just go for a little walk and I'll just go to the bathroom for a second and just like you know what lipstick I'm gonna go and put on some lipstick that's the answer so I went back to bathroom and we looked on the program and I was with Kevin - vain and who was the other gentleman let me think wasn't it Diane Foster and Berg's husband yeah very dealer and they were sitting next to me and we looked at so and they were gonna go the bathroom and I thought yeah I'm gonna jump on this I'm going with them so we got we all this is the program to make sure that it was a good time to go and the lights had come on in the room which indicates that were gone off in the room rather which indicates that they're cooling the room and it's show is not on for the moment we go to the bathroom and I'm digging through my purse and I'm looking around and you know putting my lipstick on go back in and it won't close won't you know I mean it won't close and so something's got to go right in this tiny little I mean what is that you know right right right it's like yeah you can take a key holder you can get maybe the key in there you know if you remember it yeah so okay so now it won't close and then I look up and I go oh my goodness that's a little too much lipstick I better get that I get a napkin and I'm wiping off a lipstick and I'm so the though the napkin and the trash and I'm still trying to close this Rubik's Cube of a maze a purse and it won't close I'm like you know how leave lipstick game we're gonna put lipstick on and I did too much of this if I can stay there all night so I'm throw out the lipstick click perfect oh that's too much I wiped off too much lipstick okay now going in so I'm digging into Josh from my lipstick and I hear this man screaming hey hey come on tonight oh my god don't they know that the thing is televised and they can hear him scream and read hey and it still doesn't occur to me I'm thinking you know there's bound there's a lot of Rene's at the golden and then a young lady came over me and she knits me and she said I think he's talking to you so I left the lipstick and I just poked my head out and Kevin and then Barry said you got to come now you won you got to come now come and gone if not for sweet Hugh Grant dude have shot you out there stretch out the moment most befuddled if you watch the clip yeah where you are cuz he knows you're there the reader is already shooting Bridget Jones at that point we just finished Oh each other yeah yeah well so you you didn't deliberately self-sabotage it sounds like it was an accident oh well that part certainly it didn't occur to me that that was a possibility either you know so it was perfectly safe to go to the restroom in my opinion as we mentioned you followed that with Bridget Jones diary which you know was an adaptation of this beloved book because you were so great or you are so great and it was so successful and spawned two great sequels I think maybe a lot of people don't know that it was kind of slightly controversial casting at the time you know I don't know if it was because like people thought it should be a Brits or because she's just such a beloved character we were able to just tune that out and go off and be awesome you are good for a girl's ego I can slide that in there like that I would never think about it that way but I'm thank you no I mean Jones I mean it's very rare actually for comedic performance like that to get recognized by the Academy yeah they're getting better about it I think yeah I mean cuz there have been some performances I mean all right like John Cusack in the Addams Family joke he was like in every line every year but you guys I mean was it she just so good off the charts anyway I digress oh we didn't have social media back then so it was easier to turn tune that stuff out yeah I didn't I wasn't aware of that yeah I don't we didn't just make you aware of it I'm sorry oh no no I'd be okay yeah yeah no I mean there were tiny bits of it that I would see just because of the nature of the research that I was doing because I was working at Picador publishing which represented Helen Fielding and in my internship you know I wanted to work the publishers to understand what Richie did what her work was so they pretended that I was the I guess the the cousin of the editor their nepotism made sense and I have been studying in America for 10 years which explained my weird accent yeah nailed the British accent when you had to oh thanks very much yeah a lot of help you know constant consistent help for a long time after three movies you know over the course of all these years why do you think people love Bridget so much I mean she's the Woody Allen personality you know it's it's her humanity I think I think that you know what I mean first of all what's not to love about a woman who has so much joy clearly and who fearlessly goes forward despite her and finally you know she finds self-acceptance and different spurts in her life like we all do and to sort of be able to relate to a person who is imperfect but still has triumph all the time you know cuz that's the truth and life isn't it yeah and your chemistry with Colin Firth is so amazing it's funny to me because in the book Bridget Jones the character is obsessed with Colin Firth and obviously you can't do that in the movie because he's right there playing mark Darcy by the way I just someone just asked me this today is Bridget Jones diary a Christmas movie oh isn't that interesting yes yeah I would say yes I mean that it ends with the snow the first one it starts at Christmas starts at Christmas we're gonna go on holiday Oh certainly yeah it could be IRS interesting I hadn't thought about it that way but yeah sure is die hard is a Christmas movie yes so you followed that with another oscar-nominated role you actually went to SAG Awards for Chicago one for your performance for this ensemble again I think you subverted expectations because movie musicals at this time were not a safe bet this it really kind of started the trend of major movie musicals and I don't think people expect it to be as good as it was and to do as well if it were you nervous going into that I mean also you have to sing and dance and that's what I was not I was nervous about that because um you know they sort of proper who first you know Kathryn started on the West End when she was a little girl yeah but that quickly sort of took a backseat to the schedule and also just joy your being in the middle of that process and watching it go you know just in full force it was extraordinary to be in the middle of that and watch people who are just so gifted at the top of their games mm-hmm in their bliss expressing themselves this new sort of I don't know way of filming a musical and when you say about Rob Marshall's imagination amazing yeah yeah would you be interested in doing a new musical oh sure yeah it's a lot of work don't notice it really no is joy wass joy when I look at the schedule and it makes me go but you don't you don't feel it it's it's your favorite I mean I don't know your favorite friend it's your favorite hobby it's your favorite meal it's your favorite vacation it's your favorite creative challenge all rolled into one thing it's it was an unbelievable blessing to do that film did you have experience singing and dancing before that or did you start from scratch well there was that tiny bit in with coyote shivers all right Empire Records yeah yeah yeah if there's that there was that this is like you're the lead role in a musical you're pretty much in every scene singing and dancing I mean I can't even imagine the preparation where do you even began well we were on this stage that they created on a loading dock in Toronto and you know we had little stations look like a basketball gym the the main floor is about that size vast you know on the periphery and then you have little rooms off the side that you'd have the piano in there and you'd rehearse that number in there and then you'd go over here and you work on that song and then whatever the number was that they were working on that day would be on the main floor and you would rotate it was like camp you know that sounds so fun and it's not live so at least you get another shot at it I guess I would have I dreamt those numbers really Oh I jumped those numbers because I didn't want to I don't want to mess up yeah because you know you think about shared numbers and everything that had to go right in every single take in order to complete the scene and those those dancers on you know these bungees and the exhaustion that they must experience not even halfway through the day and then to be asked to continue on and on and on and then I would just like missing a beat or a word or huh I would I've dreamt about that on you know Richard Gere's lap yeah press conference and joke about being the marionettes on Richard Gere's love and any pulse yeah yeah I would wake up you're kidding like what yes dream yeah I would be my subconscious was working that all night yeah and I would wake up when he on that beat and that crazy it's amazing days so I can say that constantly the pressure I didn't experience it but certainly it was in there somewhere the following year you played Ruby thoose in Cold Mountain another beloved performance that when you so many awards had to start making up new ones for you a SAG Award the BAFTA award the Golden Globe and of course the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that was again like nice really that's really nice that was against such a beloved novel I feel like when you you know it turned out to be a great movie you guys were all great in it but there is there ever concern when you're doing something that beloved you know that people aren't going to respond to it I don't think about it that way I never go outside of the experience I I worry more about that I don't want to that I want to do my best for the people I'm working with you know for my partners and the project you know you're all showing up and trying to create this one thing together and and so that's where my mind is and where mm-hmm Ruby seems like a really challenging character I mean she's so much fun we love her instantly but I mean just just the harshness of the shooting conditions and like such a unique character I'm curious how you sort of found your way into her oh it helped yeah oh it helped it really helped um everything felt you know we got to Romania and I'm thinking that the government change can only happen about 10 or 15 years before so it was still very interesting to see what it was from the West or the modern West that was being integrated into culture like I remember I had these spaceship sheets on my bed and it's pretty shapes on them and they'll spaceship sheets on my bed and in a bread towel and the tag was still on the towel and I knew that it was a point of pride that this was a new towel you know yeah so the people still lived really close to the earth you know you would be driving down the mountain because we stayed in plan approach offices which was a skiing training Olympic Village kind of training village that felt like the land that time forgot it felt like maybe the swimming pool was built in the 20s and everything else around it you know the old gym equipment if you're lucky enough to come across some of that stuff it's so fascinating to see but you'd wind down the mountain a half an hour into Josh off at the base of the mountain and there would be farmers in the field and the kind of you know you see a thatched roof sort of hut right there for hanging out I guess to watch the Sheep and watch the weather because the weather would determine the work of the day you'd see these guys standing out in the fields and looking around to see what was necessary that day Wow yeah and I mean the things it was what a gift you know to live them among that for a while and I learned the cows really do come home it's not just an expression no they go out to pasture at four o'clock in the morning with tiny little children tiny children you know we're worried to let him play in the backyard and they're marching off to take the cows you know miles and miles and miles to the fields you know you have to rub your eyes not sure what you're saying and then at the end of the day if we would go home at sunset the cows are becoming home and they know where they live that's so interesting they knock on the door it's weird they each name say tomorrow tomorrow stand outside in the moon outside their respective homes Wow that is hilarious a man had steak plans tonight but know the elements and all of these things just made it it was very helpful because you know she's you know she's in the earth you know of the earth and it just felt it was very helpful to live that closely to so many people whose lives are still determined by by nature in such a way you actually see your guys's breath so much in that movie because it's so cold which I guess helps it halfway the cold character yeah easier to pretend it's cold when it's cold yeah there's so many things I want to touch on movies like miss Potter and Cinderella Man but we have to get to Judy because I know we're on a schedule okay I'm looking at you there and still not believing it's entirely you I don't know if you knew you were up there oh yeah so I'm gonna start with Judy herself were you a fan where was she someone you dreamed you might play someday or did that just seem like such a crazy idea oh never occurred to me that that was a good idea or that that would ever be something that soon would propose I know I don't consider myself a performer no don't do done live performance before and I didn't consider myself a singer of you know those sorts of songs so I didn't really have that sort of vocal stamina so no I was always a fan yeah I I've been asked that a lot and I don't know if you guys you know the people that you just sort of take for granted because of course they're great of course she's great and she's sort of carved out her place among iconic lassic heroes of you know the ages it was sort of like that she was always around the house and playing on the turntable and on the reel-to-reel my dad had real differences well I don't cool right where's that so yeah she was always she was one of those people who sort of defined her life I mean you know you had G garland and Frank Sinatra he had Bob Hope and Dean Martin and all of them my mom loved Tom Jones oh she's out of town so you know they were always planning so he's something still now the other voice is crazy isn't it so who brought the idea to you and what was your initial reaction Dave son here's an acquaintance of mine he worked on my he's a friend of mine he worked on Bridget Jones a million years ago and so he had bought the rights to the play into the rainbow I think was nice yeah mm-hmm and he had hoped to bring it as a play - I don't know Broadway or something I'm not sure and but he missed out on the right someone else got the rights but he but no one was asking for the rights for cinema and so he got through the film rights and he sent it along to John Kirby now everybody and John sent it to me and and I said why yeah and read it click he does that a lot [Laughter] he's always right I mean prior to this you had taken sort of a six-year hiatus I was did you sort of know by choice you were like I'm gonna take some time off and then it just kind of became six years or did you know it was gonna be a substantial break I didn't know what it was going to be but I knew it was necessary mm-hmm and so it didn't really matter what it was going to be I just needed to do it and then was its you you but you of course you came back to do Bridget Jones in 2016 and so you were working again you did a great series this year called what if that we have a lot of questions about it is so much fun yeah but you know coming back to do something as imposing as Judy Garland where did you even begin I mean I I don't know did you take voice lessons how did you find her voice how did you find her look well David called and we talked about it and I was just curious what made him think yeah and I explained you know I I don't sing like that and I have a little voice and he said why don't you just come to London and we'll just try some things and I still you know I had my doubts I love the story and I loved his reasons for wanting to tell sorry to sort of contextualise these circumstances that she was grappling with toward the end of her life so that maybe you know the whole tragedy thing could be I don't know maybe subvert it in some way and I loved that and I was curious and he said we were going to go record some songs for fun at Abbey Road so okay no yeah you don't say no to happy right I hate so this might be the worst idea in the whole world but I was gonna go to London so then we just start trying things we did an initial photo shoot with just a wig like generic black wig that was available and we did her stage makeup and we just took pictures in a room and just to see how far away we were and what might be possible and it was oddly similar it was really strange because I'd never thought that I shared a likeness with her at all but it was really strange and then the music we recorded he sent me her recordings from 1968 to listen to which are quite different from her earlier recordings you see in the lower octave she was seeing what registers she was you know compromised in certain ways and she had learned little tricks to find her way around the things that may be more more difficult at that time and I played around with that for a while and we did those recordings and that's the best day ever in the world when the taxi drops you off outside of Abbey Road then you go inside and yes I did the crosswalk photo please here's my phone and and then I came home and that was in 2017 and I came home and I started working with a vocal coach to build my voice but I didn't believe was a thing but apparently there's a thing you can actually manipulate your vocal cords yeah I didn't know that I thought you're either 5 foot tall or you're 5 foot 9 and that's that's that's that you still sing like that you must be great at karaoke like talk about that doesn't everyone want you to do Judy song so can you imagine you imagine ivy the most boring dinner party guests and oh no don't ask her name she's gonna do man that got away again no no I promise no no but it's a different there's a difference it's it's a notable difference but you know it's work that I'll keep up yeah really you Willie yeah oh it's quite sure yeah I have to talk about the transformative look too because I you know the shortlist came out today and Jeremy Woodhead who worked with you on this look was made the shortlist for makeup and hairstyling oh that's good yeah I mean you guys did an amazing job he's so great he's so great I mean what a sweet person he's just such a brilliant person to watch him New York and it was the whittling it down to where it it's not an obstruction you know that was really important and I has a bestest humor here is a giggle and occasionally to paint the lines it's an alcohol-based makeup and so you have to dip the alcohol every girl's dream come true please smear my face with isopropyl alcohol all day he was so cute he says he said we're gonna start a line called degenerate so he drew it on the bottle which is about this big and by the end of it is really funny because you hate we'd go through the whole inventory check check check while we're running between scenes and now Kate got two contacts yes the thing weighing the gang they got two teeth teeth put the teeth in and okay you're good yes I'm good good go run I go wait we haven't done my lines yet and he goes so we haven't news to say we whittled down the time and chair substantially by the end of the shoot but no it was a process we started with the wig and the makeup and then we put everything on you know the cheeks and everything we put everything and then we pared it down and took a million photos different photos just to see what felt you know appropriate and what we got away with was what's left there so are you wearing false teeth in this yes how do you sing with those well it's really interesting because sorry I'm have my Invisalign braces on right now everyone's like she's wearing them now I'm just aware enough but there was this interesting thing that I couldn't figure out the thing that was there were a lot of things that were elusive that I could not figure I couldn't figure out her eyebrows and how they got up there sometimes I couldn't figure that out and then I'm in this wonderful book by Stevie I can't remember her last name at the moment but she was her I actually met her at a screening in New York really so exciting it's a wonderful book I don't even know how to suggest it I guess Stevie Judy Garland book she was her sister and toured around with her and would set up her makeup backstage she's talking about laying out everything the way that judy likes it in her dressing room and the tapes and I thought well wait a minute what the tapes they're these tapes and it's called mr. something's or doctor some things or facelifts instant lift or something and you you tape it here in the hairline and then it's got a string and it goes around the back and you tape it here so under your wig or your hair or whatever it is and it gives you like a thing going on here and apparently you can put it here if you pull your hair right here and you pick tape it there and back there on your hair and it gives you a little something-something there yeah so apparently it's still out there and the ladies still use it it's not a pretty popular little trick still anyway so there's the eyebrow George you got beautiful right and and the teeth I couldn't because sometimes they look like this and sometimes they look like that and I just couldn't I couldn't figure out if I just chronologically wasn't looking at you know the progression of the wear or whatever it might have been and and then I I found that she wore she wore a clip-on veneer really from the time she was in MGM as a as a young as a young person yeah so actually was helpful because there would be kind of a lispy thing sometimes in the delivery of certain a citizen things yeah and it was helpful for that because I didn't know how that sound was happening either and that where that's so interesting I had no idea it was now they're asleep this movie is I mean it's it's such a wonderful performance it's actually full of wonderful performances and it also deals with things about you know what it's like to be in the spotlight and be judged by people who think that they know you you know I look by the way I love the to the the gay couple the standard Judy and yeah for a night it's it's so lovely I think every character teaches us something was there anything you learned from Judy yeah yeah a lot really courage tenacity and the inevitability of carrying on the necessity to just carry on mm-hmm and in this process I mean it's it was it was really big it was a big experience and I'm sure every actor here and we all know that you take something away from every job that you do and you learn something about yourself and I guess that's why we're artists right because we're curious about the world and our place in it and and how we define ourselves or how we recognize ourselves in that world and yeah I found my voice in this Wow literally and figuratively yeah yeah well I didn't know this I was doing these these vocal exercises with the gentleman and Gary catona I was working with Eric vitro and Gary catona and a gentleman named Mark whose last name escapes me because I don't know that I ever learned it he's just Mark he was Mark it was he was my lifeline over in England mark he's a fantastic vocal coach but so was Gary he does these building exercises and you sound like I don't know maybe if the whale was out of the water making the howling noises it would be something akin to that and it in order to in order to develop the muscle you got to use them and so he'll take you up and down the scale making these different variations and in a note and in order to do it you have to go to places that you don't normally access your we don't use that particular point in your throat and I never expected that there would be an emotional component attached to it and it makes sense you know because you get choked up right we don't have an emotional experience you feel it not just in your heart but you feel like here you feel it here and I didn't realize that I have been speaking in my upper register for probably 20 years and we know because you make things okay right it's fine no that's fine that's fine until you're and he makes you break through all of that and so whatever it is that you stored up there that's acting as a blog blockage it has to go before you can use the muscle and sing the note so there was a whole lot of that work that went into getting to just the bare bones of what was there to access and I'm so grateful for that I'm so grateful for that we are so grateful for this beautiful performance actually all the beautiful performances you've delivered over the years thank you so much for being here congratulations [Applause]

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 47,010

Rating: 4.8921695 out of 5

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, Q&A, Interview, Renée Zellweger, Jenelle Riley, Career Retrospective

Id: 3x6vPshg2q8

Length: 61min 27sec (3687 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 08 2020