Renée Zellweger, who currently stars on NBC’s “The Thing About Pam,” has opened up about being encouraged to consume alcohol on previous sets early in her career.
In a cover story for Harper’s Bazaar, Zellweger revealed that film producers previously asked her to drink wine before nude scenes.
“There have been times I have been in, you know, on set, where a producer’s ready for me to go ahead and take my clothes off: ‘Here, drink this wine, ’cause then you’ll do it,'” Zellweger said. “And, you know, I’m not gonna take that wine, but I would like a phone. ’Cause I have a phone call I need to make right now.”
Back in 2001, Zellweger addressed her hesitation at nudity in films, telling Premiere (via Page Six) at the time that production on “Jerry Maguire” stopped after she objected to being topless.
“It’s not like [director] Cameron [Crowe]’s big plan was to have this sleazy, gratuitous boob shot,” Zellweger said. “That’s not in him, and I’d do anything for him — with the exception of that.”
The “Judy” Oscar winner added, “When a woman stands naked in a room, unless that particular moment is held up by the subject matter, all you notice is that there’s a naked girl.”
Zellweger’s turn in 2008 Western “Appaloosa” was cause for fans to assume she had fully stripped down for a river bathing sequence, but the “Bridget Jones’ Diary” alum assured Boston Herald readers that director Ed Harris shot the scene at “such a great distance” that her “little nudie thing” cover-up was rendered invisible.
“I look naked so we got the job done without doing it and that makes me happy,” Zellweger noted at the time.
As for her current turn as real-life convicted killer Pam Hupp in “The Thing About Pam,” the first-look images had audiences once again talking about Zellweger’s physique, this time for her transformation into the Midwestern murderer. The Jason Blum–produced limited series marks Zellweger’s return to the small screen after Netflix’s “What/If” and her second Oscar for “Judy.”
Zellweger made both after a break from acting, telling Harper’s Bazaar that she “needed to not have something to do all the time” and be more spontaneous. “I wanted to allow for some accidents,” Zellweger said.
Filming the Judy Garland biopic for Zellweger was a “really nice way to rekindle my love for the process,” she told the outlet, likening it to “making a thesis film in college, where it’s a private experience, and you just sneak off and figure your way through it with your couple of friends.”
“The Thing About Pam” is now airing on NBC and available to stream on Peacock.
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