Hilariously flawed and relatable London singleton Bridget Jones might be the function American actress Renée Zellweger is most ceaselessly related to.
With three Bridget Jones movies — and a fourth rumored to be on the way — it's onerous to consider another celebrity in the position of chain-smoking, weight-obsessed Bridget. Yet, when it turned into first announced that the movie adaptation of Helen Fielding novel Bridget Jones's Diary had cast a Texan actress, no longer everyone changed into on board with it.
6 Why Nobody Wanted An American Cast In Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones is said to be a quintessentially British heroine, which is why enthusiasts of the e-book and some media shops in the United Kingdom were involved when Zellweger beat British actresses for the position.
Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, as well as Australian big name Toni Collette and more had been considered for the phase, which in the long run went to a Texan actress who wasn't precisely a big title on the time.
By the early 2000s, Zellweger had starred reverse Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire and Chris O'Donnell in The Bachelor, as well as Jim Carrey in Me, Myself & Irene, directed by way of the Farrelly brothers. Arguably, the position of Bridget skyrocketed Zellweger's popularity on all sides of the Atlantic, incomes her an Oscar nod and BAFTA nomination, meaning that the Brits, too, were in the end offered on her portrayal of Bridget.
"There was a whole scandal about why isn't this a British actress? I didn't know Renée Zellweger, and a Texan playing a British character, it did seem like a stretch," Bridget Jones's Diary celebrity Hugh Grant stated in the 2020 documentary, Being Bridget Jones.
After he had met her, however, Grant mentioned Zellweger changed into "bang-on" and that the film would be a "triumph".
5 Bridget Jones's Diary Director Instantly Knew Zellweger Was The One
Despite realizing that she may face backlash, director Sharon Maguire thought Zellweger became the perfect fit for the role of Bridget.
"I figured that when [the right actress] walked in the room, we'd know," Maguire instructed Total Film in October 2000.
"She did walk in the room, and we did know. And we went, 'Oh f**k, she's a Texan.'"
“She's were given this internal irreverence, and she's were given this innocence and susceptible exterior," the director also said of Zellweger.
"She also has a very good sense of physical comedy and was so dedicated to getting it right. When I first met her, she mentioned: 'If you and I am getting this fallacious, we're so busted.'"
The film premiered in 2001 to positive reviews, proving that taking a chance on Zellweger paid off.
4 Zellweger Didn't Know There Was Criticism About Her Casting In Bridget Jones's Diary
Ahead of the film's premiere, its leading lady was largely unaware of the casting controversy.
To prepare for the role, Zellweger worked incognito as an intern at London publishing house Picador-Macmillan, where she would perfect her British accent and get acquainted with the minutiae of Bridget's own job.
"There were a couple issues that I picked up closer to the time we filmed as a result of part of my process or 'paintings revel in,' as they said, at the publishers was to clip any clippings in the media that had to do with the authors that Picador-Macmillan represents," the actress said in a Role Recall interview with Yahoo! in 2016.
As Picador represented Bridget Jones author Fielding, Zellweger had to clip articles about the writer and her novel's film adaptation.
"So from time to time one thing would pop up and I'd see 'Cr*p American Comedian Playing English Icon,' and I'd have to cut it out and pass put it in the document," she recalled.
"I believed it changed into just a tiny little factor. I did not understand simply how common this controversy become. I mean, I know it. I get it," she added.
"I'm happy I did not know on the time."
Zellweger "boss" at Picador confirmed the actress had to occasionally face criticism when performing her temp tasks.
"This intended she had, greater than once, to cut out incendiary tabloid stories fuming that 'our Bridget' become to be played by means of an American," Camilla Elworthy wrote in The Guardian 2001.
"She saved her cool, but did scribble 'garbage' in the margins of one specifically fanciful piece."
3 How Renée Zellweger Nailed The Accent For Bridget Jones's Diary
Grant touched upon the casting controversy when promoting the film in 2001, revealing the details behind Zellweger's accent work.
"A lot of the British press were sniffy on that subject," he told Cinema.com at the time.
"And I can't fake that I did not moderately lift an eyebrow myself when her name changed into brought up. I knew she become an excellent actress, and I knew she had all the ones adorable, quite victimy qualities that you wish to have.
"But I just know from experience that accent-wise, even if you're an accent genius, crossing the Atlantic is the hardest thing in the world either way. So I was a little scared for her."
Zellweger trained with Barbara Berkery, the vocal coach who ready Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love. The Chicago actress then put her English accessory to the test during her work revel in at Picador.
"Accent-wise she had a very brief Princess Margaret phase, which was alarming!" Grant mentioned.
"Then there was a brief phase where Renée sounded as though she … had a stroke! You know, everything was rather slurred. But then Renée knocked that on the head. And two weeks before we started shooting, her accent came perfectly into focus.
"It's the most efficient American doing English that I’ve ever heard in my life. And not once did she prevent speaking with that accessory, until the wrap birthday party. When all at once this bizarre.....Texan seemed. I wanted to call security," he joked.
2 The Bridget Jones's Diary Weight Controversy: How Zellweger Fit The Part
Zellweger had to gain weight for the role of the ever-dieting Bridget, who was extremely worried over her absolutely average 129 pounds in the book.
The actress described her diet for Bridget Jones's Diary in an interview with The New York Times in 2000, saying: "I'd have an omelet with cheese and sauce for breakfast with a fatty yogurt and then a fruit salad with a topping and juice and occasional and cream and a bagel with butter and a couple of hours later a chocolate shake with weight-gain powder in it."
Zellweger went through a similar experience when reprising the role in 2004 sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, but refused to go all the way over health concerns for the quick weight-gaining for the threequel Bridget Jones's Baby, released in 2016.
"I put on a couple of pounds. I also placed on some breasts and a child bump," she told Vogue at the time.
"Bridget is a wonderfully standard weight and I've never understood why it matters so much. No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same factor for a task," she added.
1 Will There Be A Bridget Jones Fourth Film?
As multiple reports of a fourth Bridget Jones film being in the works have emerged, fans of the London heroine are waiting with bated breath for an official confirmation from Zellweger.
As of April this year, the actress seemed thrilled at the prospect of returning as Bridget.
"I hope so. I am hoping so. I imply, it's a laugh, you already know, she's so much amusing," she told The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM when asked about a fourth movie.
"I like being in her shoes. I mean, it makes me chuckle, you realize, on a daily basis on set the choices that we get to make about simply how awkward we will be able to make her cases. It's just so much fun," she added.
"I in finding her so endearing … her self-deprecating form of resolution."
She added: "I love her. And I think it is in point of fact uncommon to get to practice a personality thru different levels in her existence. And in some way that we find her relatable, as a result of she parallels our own lifestyles stories at that time. I mean, Helen did write another e-book, so there may be that."
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