Renee finds her voice ... and Judy Garland sings again
SHE has perfected the Judy Garland look and, if all the hard work pays off, Renee Zellweger will have cracked the great singer’s voice as well.
The Oscar winner has spent months preparing to become Miss Garland for a film about the star’s final months.
The Bridget Jones actress plays Miss Garland in Judy, which has been filming on location in and around London.
The movie, being made by English director Rupert Goold, focuses on the five-week residency Garland had at the Talk of the Town Nightclub in Leicester Square in December 1968. They were to be the last live performances she gave in London. By June 1969 Miss Garland was found dead from an accidental overdose.
Miss Zellweger began getting into the role nine months ago by learning songs made famous by The Wizard Of Oz star. She travelled to London six weeks ago to prepare for the seven weeks of filming.
Producer David Livingstone said: ‘ Renee arrived well early to put herself through what you could call Judy School.
‘She was perfecting the voice, the mannerisms, everything you can think of that would help her portray Garland. She had already spent months with a singing coach in the States.’ Miss Zellweger has also been at the Abbey Road studios recording songs for the film’s soundtrack.
However, it’s hoped she will perform the songs ‘live’ for the film. Mr Livingstone stressed Judy will not be a musical. He said: ‘It’s a drama. But it will feature some of the numbers Garland performed during her Talk of the Town shows and other songs. It’s an emotional story but there are laughs, too.’
Numbers will include By Myself, The Trolley Song, Come Rain Or Come Shine and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
The Irish actress Jessie Buckley plays real-life Rosalyn Wilder who worked at the Talk of the Town and was hired to keep an eye on Miss Garland. Miss Wilder once said that deeply troubled singer wasn’t ‘evil’, but she was ‘sad’.