The buzz is building fast and loud for Renee Zellweger's performace as Judy Garland in Judy. All we needed was to check the voice. Will she sing or will she lip sync a la Rami Malek? Well without further ado check it out.
This is not an exacting impersonation per se from Renee but rather an interpretation. It's just a few notes from one song...
However it is Garland's signature song "Over the Rainbow" and you can still hear the trembling, the heartbreak, the emotion and Garland herself in that short clip.
The film is based on Peter Quilter’s play End of the Rainbow, adapted for the screen by Tom Edge ( who wrote a few episodes of The Crown) and directed by Rupert Goold (True Story, The Hollow Crown and the current Broadway production Ink). The play was staged in London and Broadway with Tracie Bennett as Judy in a Tony nominated performance. The story takes place in 1968 as Judy arrives in London for her sold-out run at the nightclub Talk of the Town. As she prepares for the show, we see her interact with her fifth husband Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), her manager (Michael Gambon), her ex Sid Luft (Rufus Sewell) and her children (Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsay plays Lorna Luft). It's not a cradle to grave bio-pic but rather just five weeks in Garland's life 30 years after she became a star so we are definately getting her battles with addiction and her struggle to become relevant at the end of her career.
I've seen the Broadway show and it was thrilling and heartbreaking and had Bennett singing all of Garland's famous songs. It's a performance driven story and based on what Zellweger is giving us here there's reason to be excited. And some have already seen the film and are hyping Zellweger's performance. I leave you with the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye:
Goddess: @patheuk will release #JUDY , director @rupertgoold ‘s much anticipated film set against the backdrop of #JudyGarland ‘s final concerts at the Talk of the Town , in the UK on October 4. #ReneeZellweger ‘s portrait of Garland is a performance for the ages. pic.twitter.com/gYvN91nzAd
— Baz Bamigboye (@BazBam) May 9, 2019
Instead of a Yes, No, Maybe So tell how excited are you on scale on one to ten?