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RENÉE ZELLWEGER NEWS - June 2007
INTERVIEW WITH RENEE ZELLWEGER
www.kviff.com
June 18, 2007
Renée Zellweger, star of Friday
night’s official opening of the 42nd KV IFF, first heard about the festival from
none other than Madeleine Albright, the Prague-born former US
secretary of state. “We talked about it when I met her in Jordan about a year
and a half ago,” said the Oscar-winning actress, as she spoke to the TV cameras
in front of the Thermal hotel. “She was telling me how beautiful it was and I
told her I’d love to go some time. So she called and said, do you really want to
go? I said, yeah, I really want to go,” explained Zellweger, describing Albright
as a friend.
The Hollywood star said KV IFF’s history and location were also part of the
attraction: “It’s important, it’s the oldest festival in Europe, it’s half-way
between the East and the West – it’s sort of like a conduit between different
worlds of cinema. It’s small, so it’s exciting and fresh and real.”
WEINSTEIN MADE BRITS APOLOGIZE TO ZELLWEGER
www.contactmusic.com
June 18, 2007
Movie mogul HARVEY WEINSTEIN forced British journalists to apologize to RENEE
ZELLWEGER at the London premiere of BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY - after winning a bet
they'd really like the film. The producer tried to persuade British journalists
to stop attacking the actress just because she was an American taking on a very
English role. Weinstein knew the critics would be suitably impressed in the end
and he called the journalists offering them a gambit. He tells online blogger
Marc Malkin, "I got a promise out of them. I said, 'If she's any good in the
movie, in your opinion, you have to come to the premiere and single-handedly
apologie to her.' "They all agreed because they were sure it would be terrible
and she would be terrible. "The night of the premiere, each one of these gossip
columnists from the London Mail and The Sun, whatever, saw the movie and came to
the party. "And these Fleet Street guys, who tear people up for a living every
day, walked over to Renee and said, 'I'm from the Daily Mail, you were really
good,' and, 'I'm from The Sun, you were really good.'"
Actress Zellweger Busy With Projects, Honors
www.javno.com
June 17, 2007
Renee
Zellweger might have won the Academy Award for her dramatic supporting turn in
2003's Civil War epic "Cold Mountain," but the 38-year-old actress has
demonstrated time and again that she's nothing if not versatile, turning in
showstopping performances in films such as 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary,"
2002's "Chicago" and 2004's "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason."
She even managed to executive produce her most recent starring vehicle, 2006's "Miss Potter." The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with the native Texan -- who had flown from the South Carolina set of Universal's upcoming release "Leatherheads" to attend New York's annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala -- to discuss her professional choices and how it feels to receive her latest honor, Women in Film's 2007 Crystal Award, which was presented at a June 14 gala in Beverly Hills.
Q: After receiving an Oscar for "Cold Mountain," Oscar nominations for "Chicago" and "Bridget Jones's Diary" and numerous Golden Globe and SAG Awards wins, what's the significance of being honored by Women in Film?
Renee Zellweger: "When I went to my first Women in Film luncheon, I was invited to go with my agent to see our friend Sherry Lansing, who was being honored that year. I was so impressed by the women in the room. This is far more than I had hoped for on that day."
Q: Which women have inspired you most?
Zellweger: "Oh, when I worked with Meryl Streep, she impressed me."
Q: I knew she'd come up -- how could she not?
Zellweger: "How could she not! Well put. Beyond her unquestionable talent, she chose carefully what was important to her: to be good at her job and to be a really good mother. I think, as I get older, I look more to women as role models for finding paradigms of balance between professional and personal life."
Q: Was Meryl the reason you wanted to do 1998's "One True Thing?"
Zellweger: "She wasn't attached to it at the time. It was a beautiful story and a fantastic character, and then I met with Carl (Franklin), who was going to direct it, and he talked about Meryl and that's, I think, when my head flew off and landed under the table at lunch!" (Laughs)
Q: On "Miss Potter," you executive produced and starred. Do you expect to do that again?
Zellweger: "I'm not sure. The first meeting I had with the producers and director, we discussed the work that needed to be done on the script and the creative decisions that needed to be made, and I knew I would be participating and making those decisions, so it just made sense that we'd make it official."
Q: You'll next be seen in Paramount's slated 2008 thriller "Case 39," in which you play a social worker fighting to save a girl from abusive parents. Is "Case 39" your first thriller?
Zellweger: "I did "Deceiver" in 1996 (released in 1998). I love a good thriller, and it's rare that you read one that's satisfying at the conclusion. Usually, they lose you somewhere in the third act. This one kept me going."
Q: Then you've got Universal's romantic comedy "Leatherheads" for director George Clooney, in which you play Clooney's fiancee. Being a romantic-comedy sports movie, is it at all reminiscent of your breakout role in 1996's "Jerry Maguire?"
Zellweger: "No, it's a period piece, and the dialogue is very stylized. And so is the look. I've never done this kind of dialogue where you've got mouthfuls of it."
Q: Is it true that Clooney sent you the script one night and you committed the next morning?
Zellweger: "Oh, no, I committed when I heard the script was on its way! I'm a big fan. I have great faith. I think he's a phenomenally talented director."
Q: Any directors you're dying to work with?
Zellweger: "Mmm. I sure wish Clint Eastwood would be on the end of the phone one day. Martin Scorsese. Marc Forster. Spike Jonze. Sean Penn. Taylor Hackford, call me please."
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