The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WHAT DID ACTORS FIND AT LOCAL DRIVING CLUB?
You might know Oscar and Golden Globe awardwinning actress Renée Zellweger from her roles in movies such as “Chicago,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and its successors, “Cold Mountain” or “Jerry Maguire.”
Here’s something you might not know: she once stood in line for four hours to meet former President Jimmy Carter, when he was in New York during one of his book tours. The line at the Manhattan Barnes & Noble snaked through the store and around the block, but there was no way she was missing the chance to meet her hero, she recalled. Once it was finally her turn, she couldn’t quite find the right words.
“He looked up and said, ‘Hello.’ I said, ‘Hi!’” she said, still giddy from the encounter years later.
Zellweger was in Atlanta last week for Carry the Torch, a fundraiser hosted by Trinity Community Ministries to benefit organizations that serve the homeless. The event also served to promote the film adaptation of the faith-based book “Same Kind of Different as Me.” Ahead of the event, in the Georgia World Congress Center’s Tom Murphy Ballroom, we got a minute with the actress.
“It’s heartening to see that, yes, there are people out there who are committed to making things better for other people,” said Zellweger, who was joined at Carry the Torch by costar Jon Voight, director Michael Carney and the book’s author, Ron Hall.
The 2006 book tells the true story of how Hall, who was a successful art dealer, and his wife Deborah, were changed forever through
their friendship with Denver Moore, a resident of the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. The ministry that blossomed from their relationship outlived Deborah, who died of cancer in 2000. (Learn more at same kind of different as me foundation. org).
Greg Kinnear plays Ron Hall, Voight plays his dad, Earl Hall and Djimon Hounsou plays Moore, who died in 2012. Zellweger plays Deborah Hall, an experience she described as a humbling challenge.
“It was a nice day at work every day,” she said. “What an honor to play a lady who made such a difference for so many people.”
After the screening of the movie’s trailer, Voight, Zellweger, Carney and Hall joined “Carry the Torch” organizer David Smith on stage for an informal panel discussion.
“I feel like I’m in some special part of heaven when I’m here. Heaven is in Atlanta,” said Voight, who found it rewarding to work on an uplifting film with a positive message at a time
when headlines out of Hollywood seem dominated by allegations of harassment, assault and lewd behavior. “Holy smokes. It’s not going through a very positive phase.”
Hall, who has previously spoken in Atlanta, is grateful for the opportunity to share his story and the foundation’s mission to a wide audience through the movie.
“They signed up for more than a film. They signed up for a movement,” he said of the cast and crew. “We’re going to change America, one person at a time.”
He saluted the film’s message and raved about what a joy it was to work with Zellweger.
“She’s smart as a whip, tremendously talented and she’s got the biggest heart you can imagine,” he said. Then he shared a funny anecdote from the prior evening, when they had gathered for a dinner party at the Piedmont Driving Club and found heaven on a plate: those famous butter-soaked saltines. “We couldn’t stop eating them!”