Interesting news. Myself, I can't see it.
http://www.playbill.com/article/renee-zellweger-will-play-judy-garland-in-new-film-judy
shareI hadn't heard about this until I came upon your post today. I adore Zellweger, but, I, too cannot see her
as Garland at all (Adrienne Barbeau was also an awful choice for that stage show some years back).
The great Judy Davis won a well-deserved Emmy for playing adult Garland in that miniseries from sixteen odd
years ago, but even Davis couldn't pull off young Garland (she looks like a drag queen in the expensive,
pointless "Trolley Song" recreation). The miniseries also rushed through much of Garland's life.
I always felt the best thing to do would be a two-hour plus feature based on Coyne Steven Sanders' brilliant
"Rainbow's End." THIS is what Judy Davis should've focused on. How CBS treated her, and what she went
through to try and make that series work is material enough for a film! But this new film looks like it's just
out to exploit Garland's final months.
I'll bet Lorna - who's never shied away from defending her mother - will have a lot to say about this.
I agree about Judy Davis. I have always wondered why they had her playing Judy starting at the age of 21. In my opinion, Tammy Blanchard should have played her until the end of the MGM years.
shareI think Davis has several challenges, mainly that she is a naturally slim woman, with a very sort of "hollow" look to
her face and cheekbones. When called upon to sing "The Man That Got Away", another expensive, pointless
recreation, she is obviously too tall, and too trim. They finally resorted to heavy padding for Judy's obese period in
the '50s, and she pulled that off better, due to the padding.
I think Davis' look worked for the "The Pirate"/"Annie Get Your Gun" fiasco, due to Judy's worn -out ultra-thin frame,
although Davis' voice was too deep. Judy's voice didn't start deepening until the early '50's.
Whatever the case, it's going to be a tough assignment for Zellweger. The fact that she's doing her own singing
is quite insulting. Perhaps the problem is that, while there's plenty of recordings that have surfaced on Judy
in '68 and '69, none, to my knowledge, are in stereo, or even professionally recorded, which would translate
terribly on a 2018 movie soundtrack.