My night with Renee, Oscar queen ready to roll again
RENEE Zellweger positioned the statuette on the table and twisted and turned it until the panel, freshly engraved with her name, faced out towards onlookers.
The 50-year-old acknowledged that this Oscar, awarded for her touching portrayal of Judy Garland, meant much more to her than the one she took home 16 years ago.
Her first Academy Award, which she won for her role as a feisty farm girl in Cold Mountain in 2004, was her third consecutive nomination.
But now, after a six-year hiatus that began in 2010, her victory on Sunday night echoes Garland’s own late-in-life comeback.
Zellweger has returned to clean up this awards season, winning a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award, a Bafta and a Spirit award.
And thanks to Judy, the Bridget Jones star is back in the big time and busier than ever, with enough roles to tie her up for the next ten years.
‘Judy Garland did not receive this honour in her time. I am certain that this moment is an extension of the celebration of her legacy that began on our film set,’ Zellweger told the Dolby Theatre on Sunday.
When London-based producer David Livingstone met her to discuss his plan to have her portray Judy Garland in the final months of her life during her Talk of the Town tour, Zellweger jumped right in.
‘Judy was vulnerable, always hopeful, funny, naughty. Very smart, but there were a couple of hurdles that were just too high,’ she told me.
She said she tapped into Garland’s psyche by asking herself, ‘who do you trust? You feel grateful for the job that you have, coupled with the work ethic and not wanting to disappoint. It leaves you in a pretty vulnerable place.’
As Oscars parties raged all over Hollywood on Sunday night, she wanted nothing more than to get out of her fitted Armani gown and into her favourite old jeans, lumberjack shirts and a cap.
And the star, who says she’s happiest incognito, revealed she is a fan of travelling on the Tube – having spent so much time in London filming.
‘I know my way around the map,’ she boasted. ‘I can take the Central line and I know when not to travel too far east on the days West Ham are playing at home. I also know not to take the Circle line if I need to get somewhere in a hurry.’ With that, she clutched her
Oscar and led her colleagues to another party. Those jeans weren’t going on any time soon.
Zellweger’s win was also a triumph for the UK, with Judy backed by BBC Films and Pathe UK. And elsewhere in the ballroom, there were other British success stories. Jacqueline Durran, from north London, celebrated her second Oscar win for designing the sumptuous costumes in Little Women.
Sir Sam Mendes’s 1917 war epic took three prizes, while Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin picked up the original song award for the Elton biopic Rocketman. British actress Cynthia Erivo went home empty-handed, but she earned a standing ovation as she performed her nominated song Stand Up. ‘I think the nominations may have changed my life a little bit,’ she said as she sat with mother Edith and sister Stephanie, who had flown over from London. Sipping a ginger beer, the Harriet star said: ‘I’m looking out at people who I’ve dreamed about. In the front row you had Brad Pitt, Leo [DiCaprio], Charlize [ Theron], Renee. It was amazing.’
But South Korean black comedy Parasite was the biggest success of the night, winning in four categories including best director for Bong Joon-ho.