Renée Zellweger felt a "different sense of responsibility" with her new movie.
The ‘Judy’ star – who plays iconic actress and singer Judy Garland in the biographical movie – admits there was a lot of "pressure" to perfect her role.
She said: "It’s a different sense of responsibility that you feel when you play someone who’s lived or who’s living. There’s certain things that are non-negotiable that are established on public record and in some ways that’s helpful because it sets the parameters a bit. And it was. In terms of pressure, I love her too. I love her and I admire her and I’m in awe of her and … you carry a sense of hope that you’ll do justice by the representation. That’s all. I was really interested in the human experience not in portraying the icon or the superstar, which is really just a protection in sort of an amalgam of other people’s imaginations, but the person. The person who is struggling behind that spotlight."
And the 50-year-old actress wanted to shed a light on Judy’s life.
She added to talkRADIO: "I loved what Rupert was hoping for this film. To humanise the experience of the performer and to reveal the truth of the life of a performer and the cost of performance and it seemed like such a lovely opportunity to shine a different light on the final chapter of Judy’s life which seems sort of blanketed and the idea of tragedy. Because I don’t think you can really properly appreciate how extraordinary she is without knowing what it is that she had to overcome to continue to perform. It’s one thing to have a god given gift and work and be celebrated and live your life out and into iconic stature but it’s another thing when you understand the complications that seemed insurmountable that she would time and again, time and again, find a way to push through in order to sing and perform some of the greatest vocal performances in history. I think it really sets her apart as so much more than iconic."
Renée Zellweger’s different sense of responsibility
