Renee Zellweger's British Transformation for Bridget Jones

0:00It's March 7th. Here's what's happening in Entertainment. Producers faced a big challenge casting the lead for the romantic comedy Bridget Jones 's Diary. The character was a 32-year-old single-British woman tracking her love-life mishaps in a diary. They eyed top British actresses like Kate Winslet, Emily Watson, Rachel Weiss, Kate Blanchett, and Helena Bonham Carter. In the end, they picked American Renee Zellweger. The choice drew a media backlash since she was not British. Five years after her breakout in Jerry McGuire, Zellweger dove into prep work. She relocated to London and trained three months with a dialect coach to nail the accent. She even stayed in character offset, so much so that co-star Hugh Grant said he never heard her Texas twang until the rap party. To really get into the role, Zellweger went undercover at a London publishing house using the alias Bridget Cavendish. Closing as a friend's sister, she answered phones, photocopy documents, sorted mail,

1:00and grabbed coffee. She fit in perfectly, and one executive nearly offered her a full-time spot. During her internship, she stumbled on a newspaper clipping slamming her casting as an outsider. She simply jotted rubbish in the margin and moved on. The rest of the cast stayed British, with Colin Firth as the charming Mark Darcy and Hugh Grant as the slide Daniel Cleaver. Zellweger was played by Jim Broadbin and Jim Ajones. The film premiered to strong praise, quieting the early doubts. That memorable awkward fight between Firth and Grant was mostly improvised, full of flailing and little skill. Zellweger landed in Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, while Broadbin won an Oscar that year for another movie. This story is made possible by our sponsor, See the episode description. It is cooler than cool, a pillow that plays your sound, S-O-L-I-S-O-L-Pillow.com.