Bohemian Rhapsody dominated this past awards season, but get ready for two more contenders this year with Taron Egerton’s Elton John in Rocketman and now Renée Zellweger’s Judy Garland in upcoming biopic Judy. The Bridget Jones actress is taking on one of the most iconic legends in Hollywood this fall with an upcoming music biopic about the triple threat during her last tour as a singer. Check out the new trailer below:
Wow! Renée Zellweger’s transformation for Judy has an uncanny resemblance to the showbiz icon. In the trailer, the actress emulates Judy Garland’s facial expressions and mannerisms to a T, while also singing her most well-known song, The Wizard of Oz’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Yes, that’s Zellweger really singing, not Garland. Anyone else hear Oscar?
The trailer shows a series of flashbacks of Judy Garland’s early years, with newcomer Darci Shaw playing a more youthful Garland during her time on the set of her most memorable role as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. The film will follow Garland in London for her five-week sold old run at The Talk of the Town in December 1968, before the accidental overdose that she died from six months later, at 47 years old.
The film from Roadside Attractions shows Judy Garland at a time when her voice has weakened, and she undergoes battles with her management and her drug addiction. It starts during her romance with her soon-to-be fifth husband Mickey Deans, whom she weds during the London show run. Deans, who was a musician, will be played by American Horror Story’s Finn Wittrock. He found her dead in the bathroom of their home in June 1969.
Judy will also star Michael Gambon as Garland’s manager Bernard Delfontm and Rufus Sewell as her third husband Sidney Luft, with whom she had two kids. One of Garland’s daughters, Liza Minnelli, has been vocal about her disapproval with the biopic, previously posting the words “I do not approve nor sanction the upcoming film about Judy Garland in any way” after rumors spread that she was meeting with Renée Zellweger to help her prep to play her mother.
Renée Zellweger nabbed the project helmed by True Story director Rupert Goold in October 2017. The screenplay for Judy was written by Lovesick creator Tom Edge, adapted from a stage play by Peter Quilter titled End of the Rainbow. A previous movie about Garland had Anne Hathaway attached.
The movie is an exciting role to see Renée Zellweger take on following her long break from moviemaking between 2010 and 2016. The actress made her comeback with a sequel to her famous rom-com role in Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016. This looks to be a memorable role for Zellweger as she takes on the actress famous for her Hollywood legacy and roles such as in 1954’s A Star Is Born. The film hits theaters on September 27.
