Here are some photos of Renee Zellweger at the London premiere of Judy this week. She wore an Emilia Wickstead dress which had the same vibe as a lot of those Carolina Herrera dresses Renee used to wear. She definitely goes for the same kind of look, the same kind of cut. She looked beautiful at the premiere and I loved her rainbow umbrella! But yeah, she also looks different, although she will word-salad us to death if we say anything about how she looks tweaked.

I still can’t believe that Judy is getting such good reviews and that Renee is now considered a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, if not the actual Best Actress Oscar. It feels like this could be another Rami Malek situation, where we’re just giving Oscars to randos in okay bio-pics of beloved musical figures. Judy has already opened (in a limited release) here in the US, and it’s already making good money per-theater. Obviously, people really want to see Renee as Judy Garland. And… that’s a choice, and not one I’m going to make.

Renee’s press for Judy has been all over the place too – I tried reading her Guardian interview, but she once again did the word-salad sh-t about her face work and I’m just exhausted that we’re still framing it as “how dare people notice how different I look!” I also think Renee needs some help with how she talks about Harvey Weinstein, the man who was her professional collaborator for years and helped make her into the actress she is today, and the man who used her name as he harassed and assaulted other women. From the Guardian interview:

Zellweger was also dragged into #MeToo. As part of the ongoing class-action lawsuit, actor Melissa Sagemiller claimed that Harvey Weinstein told her that Zellweger and Charlize Theron had given “sexual favours” for roles. There was a robust response from the Zellweger camp: “If Harvey said that, he’s full of sh-t.” (Though Zellweger says she didn’t personally put out a statement about it.)

Regarding what Weinstein is alleged to have said about her, Zellweger says: “I did hear about that, yes.” Generally speaking, did Zellweger have any bad experiences in the industry? “Never directly in that way. But, you know, there were certain behaviours that I would tolerate because I had a job to do, and I was more interested in getting through the day than in correcting someone, certainly. They weren’t offences of the variety that you’re referencing. But there were certain languages and liberties that certain people would take. But they would take them from anyone, in my estimation, not just me as a woman. But I’m sure there were countless instances that I was not aware of – in terms of deals that were made and conversations that were had, that were derogatory, that I was not privy to. Sure. Of course. I’d be naive to think that I was immune.”

[From The Guardian]

So… she doesn’t want to talk about Weinstein, which is absolutely her right. In interviews, she either shuts down those questions curtly or she goes on and on about how she is sure that someone was sexist somewhere at some point but she was never aware of it. Which is also her right – if she wants to deflect like that, it’s her call. But now I can’t help but wonder why she’s f–king reticent to just say “yes I was mistreated” or “no I was never directly harassed” or “Harvey is a f–king pig and that’s all I want to say about it.” It actually feels like she’s trying to talk around the fact that she still feels some loyalty towards him.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.