Renee Zellweger was on Good Morning America today promoting her predictable-looking romantic comedy with Harry Connick, Jr., New in Town. The first story she told Diane Sawyer was about how she went to the inauguration on her own last week without tickets and without a plan. She rode the train to DC, took a camera, and mingled among the crowd.
Renee: I had to be there. I’ve been obsessed… going on 9 years now. Just the possibility that this might become a reality this year I had to be part of it. With no tickets, and no plan and no access, I got on a train and I just went.
Sawyer: Could you wander around the crowd unrecognized?
Zellweger: There’s wasn’t so much wandering as it was bouncing around like a pinball inside the machine… I was prepared for the crowd, I was prepared for the cold, I wasn’t prepared for how emotional it would be. It was extraordinary. I’m so glad that I was there, even though I couldn’t feel my toes for about three days after I went.
[Transcribed from Renee Zellweger’s appearance on Good Morning America, 1/29/09]
That’s a cute story and it sounds like Zellweger was excited just to be a part of history. Good for her for going without getting special access, although maybe she just didn’t want to shell out the cash for a bleacher seat. Matt Damon said it would have cost him $25k a seat to attend the inauguration, even after he campaigned for Obama.
New In Town is set in Minnesota in the Winter and it was filmed in freezing cold Winnipeg, Canada. Zellweger told Sawyer that she had “lashsicles” and wore three pairs of pantyhose at a time to combat the cold.
Update: Renee told Regis & Kelly on her appearance this morning that people did recognize her. She said she spent three hours wandering around not knowing where she was but she ran in the right direction somehow about 10 minutes before 12 and was able to catch the inauguration on a jumbotron. A woman asked her if she was alone and took a picture of her with Renee’s Blackberry, which she showed on Regis and on Good Morning America today.
Here’s the trailer for New in Town. It looks cute and I laughed despite myself:
Renee Zellweger is shown outside Good Morning America today. Credit: SplashNews
Going to the inauguration is cool. On another note . . . Is she odd, or is it just me?
I dont think she is odd. I like when celebrities are normal and divalicious (cough Beyonce) I think its great that she did this.
OK. I like “divalicious. I can go with that.
Wow! Just like a real live normal person!
Good for her! Finally a low key, more down to earth celebrity. If I lived near DC I would have done the same!
The fact that she attended the inauguration like an ordinary citizen is enough for me to go see her new movie. That and Winnipeg is my home town…
I have worked with Renee and she is one of the nicest people in Hollywood. She is very down to earth and this sounds just like her. She’s great!
I’ve always liked her, never understood the amount of crap she gets in the media, particularly the gossip blogs (less so here on CB) which seem to follow each other like sheep when it comes to lame and jaded name-calling.
Too normal and nice for Hollywood, I guess.
I think she’s an underrated actress. I’ve loved her in everything I’ve seen.
And, yes, she seems like the smart girl next door, trying to do her art in a nasty business.
She seems rather asocial. Not that it’s a bad thing, but she said she likes being alone a lot and this makes sense for her to do. I’m kinda like that too where most of the time I prefer my own company.
For some people it’s odd but hey, we all cope however we can.
I have to give her credit for doing her own thing and without an entourage.
She has way more money than some celebs that must surround themselves with staff (ie. Mr. and Mrs. Anthony), but she chooses not to.
Just Renee and her lip inflations for company, poor thing.