His mother was called beautiful throughout the film, so it would have made more sense to cast an actress who is at least halfway pretty. Zellweger looked about as bad and puffy faced in this movie as I have ever seen her look. I loved the movie, but for me, it would have been more realistic with another actress.
LOL i love the title of this thread. I'm usually an unsympathetic Zellweger hater. I can't stand to see 30feet of her scrunched up face in theaters. But I caught this movie in the morning when I was just flipping through channels and thought she was at her prettiest and most likeable, better than I had ever seen her be.
Could they have gotten a better looking actress? Most certainly. Would it have been the same movie? Personally, I think most certainly not.
[deleted]
I like RZ in all her roles, and will watch a movie just to watch her, but I have to agree that Renee Z. was definitely not beautiful in this role, and it made the whole thing less credible.
I thought her "scrunched up face" was in fact weird-looking.
I disagree with the post that says that it had to do with standards of the time. Think of the glamorous blond movie stars of the day, like Lana Turner. They none of them had her puffy features and squnichy eyes.
What was really disconcerting was that so much of the plot of the movie depended on her actually being outstandingly beautiful, knocking men over with her gorgeous looks. Men in the story were constantly behaving the way they did because she was supposedly so "beautiful."
Could another actress have done the role, and fit the part physically? I think so. For instance, Penelope Miller.
My favorite role for RZ is Cold Mountain, where her off-beat looks fit the character.