Renee Zellweger shows different side in What/If
LOS ANGELES —The new Netflix neo-noir thriller anthology series “What/If ” examines how life can change dramatically with one decision, a situation often referred to as the ripple effect.
Star Renee Zellweger understands completely how a single decision can lead to big changes.
In the early ’90s, Zellweger had appeared in a few small films, including an uncredited role in “Dazed and Confused” and the horror offering “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.” When she heard “Love and a .45” would be filming in her home state of Texas but cast in Los Angeles, she put into motion a plan that would change the direction of her career.
“With my boyfriend at the time and his brother and my roommates, we made a video in the dining room,” Zellweger says. “It was a last-minute thing and we missed the last mail. This was before the internet, so we drove to the Austin (Texas) airport and I put the tape on Continental Airlines. I hired a courier in Los Angeles to take it to the production company.”
The effort paid off and Zellweger was cast in the film, a job she’s convinced was the starting point for all the acting work that followed. Since then, Zellweger has had an Oscar-winning career with films such as “Cold Mountain,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Chicago,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Nurse Betty.”
There have been a few TV movies or guest spots, but “What/If” is the first time Zellweger has been the lead in a small-screen production. She was eager to play the role of master manipulator Anne Montgomery because the character is a complete opposite of the vulnerable roles she’s so often played.
“I have never played anyone like her, who is so outrageous and audacious,” Zellweger says. “I wanted to play a character that had fewer restrictions in terms of the choices I could make. Also, the fact that it was only 10 parts made it really feel like we were making a long movie.”
Created by Mike Kelley (“Revenge”), “What/If” focuses on what happens when a mysterious woman makes a lucrative offer to a pair of San Francisco newlyweds (Jane Levy, Blake Jenner) in dire need of money. That’s the starting point for a story that slowly reveals all the characters in a complicated morality play.
If a second season is ordered there would be a completely different story and potentially new cast, though Kelley says any of the actors in the first season have an open invitation to work on future chapters.
Kelley knows getting Zellweger to be part of his project was a major accomplishment. The process started when both he and Zellweger were represented by the same management team.
“We think of her as approachable and unguarded and somebody who lets us in. She’s someone we have immediate empathy for,” Kelley says.
“As for the character of Anne Montgomery, she had only one script to look at. To speak to Renee’s bravery, someone who has won an Academy Award, she trusted me to deliver on a promise that the nine other scripts would give her a character to play at has so much more going on than you think.”
The openness Zellweger has both on and off set is why “What/ If” costar Levy would jump at an opportunity to work with her again. She describes Zellweger as a “kind, gracious, funny person” who also is a very talented actor.
Zellweger started work on “What/If” after finishing the feature film “Judy,” where she plays Judy Garland. Taking on a role based on a real person — especially someone as iconic as Garland — was a different acting experience than taking on a fictional character.
“The sense of responsibility is quite different,” Zellweger says. “One materializes in your imagination and the other one materializes as a result of trying to understand the historical documentation and what every information that exists that encapsulates the history of a person’s life.
“It was both satisfying and daunting. But, I didn’t look at it like a project in a traditional respect. I looked at it like an exercise of a different variety all together. I approached it with trepidation and humility and with a sense of trying to read between the lines of what is documented and trying to understand. It was an exercise in becoming familiar with someone whom I have admired from afar all my life and who has had an impact on my life.”
“Judy” is scheduled to be in theatres in September. Until then, Zellweger’s smart, seductive and at times scary work in “What/If ” can be seen on Netflix starting Friday.