Post by Admin on Mar 2, 2020 1:46:23 GMT
Star power
Judy premiered in Telluride and the critical response to her performance was strong. At press time it had earned $35.4m at the global box office — comprising $23.5m through Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment in the US and $9.9m through 20th Century Fox, distributor of Pathé’s films in the UK — and returned Zellweger to the limelight after star turns in the Bridget Jones franchise, Chicago, her Oscar win for best supporting actress in Cold Mountain, and many others.
Zellweger is enjoying her return, all the more so because her leave of absence enabled her to “step back for a minute and reprioritise”. She continues: “I hadn’t lived away from a movie set and I needed to have some authentic experiences with people. How can you be a storyteller when you can’t relate to people because nobody has let you carry your own suitcases in 20 years? How are you a storyteller when people don’t meet you, they meet your persona?
“That’s not to say [being a movie star] is not great… Spoiled-rotten life, dreams coming true. But it doesn’t allow you to sit still and say, ‘What’s the purpose of my life here and what am I contributing? How can I grow?’”
She took stock and launched a production company, The Big Picture Co, which struck a first-look deal earlier this year with MGM TV. “I didn’t realise there was that chaos and how unhealthy I was,” she says. “Now I can see that I can enter back into this work with new perspective and a new set of boundaries and probably do a better job.”
When she first thought about taking a break, Zellweger recalls “warning whispers saying what a terrible thing that is for an actress to do at that age. But it couldn’t keep going; it wasn’t even an option — I couldn’t sustain.” If that reflected a ruinous attitude towards women of a certain age, she is encouraged by the #MeToo movement.
“It’s redundant to say it’s a great thing,” she says. “It’s bending towards the light and sometimes it takes a minute. Young women are coming into their own. They have examples of women in power and influence and it wouldn’t occur to them not to try to be a CEO or question why there isn’t gender parity — they’ve always lived in a world where there’s Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton. It must be strange for them to look at what was not challenged for so many years.”
So what’s next for Zellweger? “A few irons in the fire.” Will there be another Bridget Jones film? “I don’t know. I’m not being coy. That’s a Helen Fielding question,” she declares archly. “I sure wouldn’t mind that — it would be fun.”
Judy premiered in Telluride and the critical response to her performance was strong. At press time it had earned $35.4m at the global box office — comprising $23.5m through Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment in the US and $9.9m through 20th Century Fox, distributor of Pathé’s films in the UK — and returned Zellweger to the limelight after star turns in the Bridget Jones franchise, Chicago, her Oscar win for best supporting actress in Cold Mountain, and many others.
Zellweger is enjoying her return, all the more so because her leave of absence enabled her to “step back for a minute and reprioritise”. She continues: “I hadn’t lived away from a movie set and I needed to have some authentic experiences with people. How can you be a storyteller when you can’t relate to people because nobody has let you carry your own suitcases in 20 years? How are you a storyteller when people don’t meet you, they meet your persona?
“That’s not to say [being a movie star] is not great… Spoiled-rotten life, dreams coming true. But it doesn’t allow you to sit still and say, ‘What’s the purpose of my life here and what am I contributing? How can I grow?’”
She took stock and launched a production company, The Big Picture Co, which struck a first-look deal earlier this year with MGM TV. “I didn’t realise there was that chaos and how unhealthy I was,” she says. “Now I can see that I can enter back into this work with new perspective and a new set of boundaries and probably do a better job.”
When she first thought about taking a break, Zellweger recalls “warning whispers saying what a terrible thing that is for an actress to do at that age. But it couldn’t keep going; it wasn’t even an option — I couldn’t sustain.” If that reflected a ruinous attitude towards women of a certain age, she is encouraged by the #MeToo movement.
“It’s redundant to say it’s a great thing,” she says. “It’s bending towards the light and sometimes it takes a minute. Young women are coming into their own. They have examples of women in power and influence and it wouldn’t occur to them not to try to be a CEO or question why there isn’t gender parity — they’ve always lived in a world where there’s Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton. It must be strange for them to look at what was not challenged for so many years.”
So what’s next for Zellweger? “A few irons in the fire.” Will there be another Bridget Jones film? “I don’t know. I’m not being coy. That’s a Helen Fielding question,” she declares archly. “I sure wouldn’t mind that — it would be fun.”