Renee Zellweger Hits Highest Highs, Lowest Lows in Official 'Judy' Trailer: Watch
Renée Zellweger swings for the stars in the first official trailer for the upcoming Judy Garland biopic, Judy.
The two-and-a-half-minute clip, which debuted on Monday morning (July 8), sees Zellweger fully immerse herself in the troubled life of the late stage and screen star, who climbed the highest highs and dipped into the lowest lows before her death at age 47 in 1969.
The dizzying preview of the Rupert Goold-directed film based on the Peter Quilter play End of the Rainbow finds Garland balancing the demands of global stardom with her motherly duties, as she shuffles from set-to-set with children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joseph Luft in tow, cycling through her legendary performances in films such as The Wizard of Oz without shying away from the destructive substance abuse issues that would eventually cut her life tragically short.
It opens with Garland being denied a hotel room because of unpaid bills, an embarassment the singer drowns with a handful of pills, much to her daughter's dismay. From the technicolor set of Oz to the depths of not even being able to find a manager, the first look leads up to Garland's career-ending five-week run at London's Palladium before her death from a barbituates overdose. It also touches on her struggles with ex-husband Sidney Luft and love affair with fifth and final husband Mickey Deans.
As with an earlier glimpse, it ends with Zellweger singing a shaky, heart string-pulling version of Garland's signtature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The film, which also stars Rufus Sewell as third husband Luft, Michael Gambon as manager Bernard Delfont, Bella Ramsey as daughter Lorna Luft and Gemma-Leah Devereux as Liza Minnelli, opens on Sept. 27.
According to People magazine, Zellweger took music lessons, studied choreography and read up on the actress in her prep for the role, spending two hours a day to get fitted with prosthetics, contact lenses and custom wigs.
"Winter 1968 and showbiz legend Judy Garland arrives in Swinging London to perform a five-week sold-out run at The Talk of the Town," reads a statement summing up the trailer. "It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in The Wizard of Oz, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown. As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through. Even her dreams of love seem undimmed as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband. Featuring some of her best-known songs, the film celebrates the voice, the capacity for love, and the sheer pizzazz of “the world’s greatest entertainer.”
Watch the Judy trailer below.