In her first interview as a filmmaker, Renée Zellweger is as gracious as ever.
“I don’t assume that directing was a private ambition in and of itself,” the Oscar-winning actress tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I all the time thought that if there was some natural calling to inform a narrative and I felt that it was the suitable match, then I’d in all probability like to do it and provides it a shot.” Provided that it felt mandatory, she provides: “Not only for the sake of getting the expertise, you already know?”
Texas-born Zellweger has, in fact, been a star of the display screen for years. She has captivated us within the likes of Jerry Maguire (1996), Chicago (2002) and extra not too long ago, the movie that gave her a hard-earned second Academy Award: the Judy Garland biopic Judy, in 2021. For a lot of audiences, nevertheless, she’ll be finest often called the charmingly imperfect Bridget Jones, a personality she returned to earlier this 12 months within the international field workplace hit Mad In regards to the Boy.
What she hasn’t but publicly spoken about is the venture she labored on in between these films. In her trailer on the Bridget Jones set, she says, and in between press excursions, Zellweger and her manufacturing firm Massive Image Co. have been working with a gaggle of proficient animators to create a nine-minute brief — Zellweger’s directorial debut — titled They.
Within the hand-drawn 2D line animation They, which had its world premiere at Edinburgh Worldwide Movie Pageant on Aug. 16, a city is overrun by grumbling residents caught in clouds of grievance. That’s, till a hopeful hero and his trusty canine hatch a plan to encourage a return to raised days. When issues seem to catastrophically backfire, a stunning twist unites the plenty in solidarity.
They is a response to the wealth of toxicity polluting the world. Zellweger pokes enjoyable at on-line conspiracy theories, a sea of hate on social media, and all-round horrible group morale amongst us people in the intervening time. “It’s simply so unhappy,” Zellweger tells THR, “the decline of social discourse, how evidently all of us have these opinions about each other. Dialog appears to have left the constructing.”
The brief can be a surprisingly intimate venture, sprinkled with anecdotes and delicate nods to Zellweger’s private life and the broader group’s, too. A dedication on the finish to Dylan, Ellie, Chester, Betty and Grady refers back to the late pets of Zellweger and her producer Tora Younger. In truth, animation director Paul Smith drew everybody’s pets subsequent to their names for the brilliantly crafted finish credit. He labored underneath his manufacturing firm banner Ubik with artwork administrators Nick Free and Ste Dalton, whereas Adam Minkoff served as composer and Michael Bayliss as animation marketing consultant.
Zellweger’s animated brief ‘They’ had its world premiere at EIFF.
Courtesy of EIFF
The ultimate product is one brimming with pleasure. “Individuals say ‘ardour venture,’ and that’s genuinely what that is reached in,” says Zellweger. Under, she talks for the primary time about They. She reveals when the concept for the movie first got here to her, her long-running love of animation as an artwork type, and what’s in retailer subsequent now she’s had a spin within the director’s chair: “There are all the time concepts brewing. It’s only a matter of timing and issues coming collectively.”
***
I’ve so many questions for you, and solely a bit of little bit of your time — so if you happen to’re glad, I’ll dive proper in.
After all, in fact. It’s the primary time I’ve talked about it with anyone exterior the venture… So be affected person with me!
Don’t fear if you happen to want a while to consider your solutions! However let’s begin in the beginning. How did this journey begin and the way lengthy had you wished to direct?
Effectively, it was type of a fluke. I don’t assume that directing was a private ambition in and of itself. I all the time thought that if there was some natural calling to inform a narrative and I felt that it was the suitable match then I’d in all probability like to do it and provides it a shot. [Only] if it felt mandatory — not only for the sake of getting the expertise, you already know? This was only a dialog with a pal. She was unwell, and we have been sat on her mattress watching the afternoon information as a result of she had a crush on the native newscaster, and we knew that she wished to look at that each afternoon. We turned it on and it was so miserable. Her carer Jerome and I began speaking about toxicity and the divisiveness and the way polarized we’ve grow to be as a society. That is 2018, 2019. We have been considering it’s simply so unhappy, the decline of social discourse, how evidently all of us have these opinions about each other. Dialog appears to have left the constructing. He stated, “Yeah, it’d be nice if we felt like we have been being attacked from area or one thing, then we’d want one another, wouldn’t we?” And I laughed, and I assumed, “Oh yeah, Armageddon or Independence Day!”
I began to riff on it, the concept of it. I assumed, “Oh gosh, yeah.” May you think about the bodily manifestation of this air pollution that we’re creating day by day? These destructive messages which are bombarded [at us], that appear to be deliberately focused, designed to make us offended. Wouldn’t that be one thing? I advised Jerome, “I’m gonna go house and write that.” I simply wished to for an train. So I went and I wrote it. After which I related with an artist pal of mine, an animator, and we began speaking about it from my kitchen. I despatched him a number of tough sketches of what I imagined this little non-human individual would appear like, and it went from there. A few years later — it might have been simply after Judy — I used to be talking with my pal Tora Younger. She’s a producer. She was early days on the primary Bridget Jones. I’ve recognized her for a extremely very long time, and I’d forgotten that she was one of many first on the group at [U.K. studio] The Imaginarium when it was based. And I forgot about her love of animation. We began speaking about it. I’d been tinkering from my kitchen throughout COVID and simply seeing the place this may go.
Initially, I used to be considering it was going to be a minute or two and that it might be a muted black and white [film]. She launched me to Paul Smith, who’s higher often called Erwin Saunders on his YouTube channel. [Laughs.] And it went from there. It simply began to develop and the story developed as we labored on it, as a result of there have been sure issues that… I don’t know easy methods to describe it, however there have been sure issues that we knew have been extremely unlikely. So we wished to make references to that.
It’s superb what number of years this movie has been within the making.
Effectively, you already know, it was only for enjoyable. I wished to do it as a result of I advised Jerome that I used to be going to and I wished to shock him. It’s taken a minute. After which it was COVID, so it was a bit of venture that might from the lounge. Individuals say “ardour venture,” and that’s genuinely what that is reached in. It’s only a love of the artwork type and the way you should utilize it to interact in a dialog with out being offensive.
It truly is so good. The music, the tip credit poking enjoyable at what comes up on our screens as of late. And there may be optimism in your story — is that one thing you wished to convey?
Oh, yeah, completely. However with out being twee. [Laughs.] Since you all the time hope, proper? You hope. What I discovered actually attention-grabbing yesterday was that I suppose one other couple of initiatives [premiering at Edinburgh] started throughout COVID and it’s simply because animation takes some time. Clearly, it’s actually concerned by way of the hours it takes to create [and] the work that you just put into it. They is hand-drawn. It’s hand-painted, hand-drawn 2D line animation, which I’ve been a fan of perpetually.
I used to hunt out animation festivals after I was at college. I lived in a dormitory that was on high of an unbiased movie show, and they’d host these festivals and these shorts would come by city, and I’d return repeatedly. I simply adore it. I really like the messaging. I really like the capability to elicit such an emotional response from one thing so tiny and fast, and that appears so easy, but it surely’s truly actually profound. It takes a lot work and talent… and now I’m going off on my love for this artwork type, and I’ve forgotten your query. [Laughs.]
‘They’ dir. Renée Zellweger (2025).
Courtesy of EIFF
You’re completely proper, it’s profound. Edinburgh Movie Pageant director Paul Ridd stated this was so assured and so totally different from what they have been anticipating of you. Do you assume individuals wouldn’t assume Renée Zellweger would have this ardour for animation?
I actually don’t know. I suppose I don’t spend plenty of time questioning what individuals would assume. [Laughs.]
Why is it titled They?
It’s that clichéd reference whenever you wish to finish a dialog, or in substantiating your perspective: “You know the way they are,” “You recognize what they say,” “You recognize what they do,” “If solely they didn’t…”
That’s the reference. However clearly, within the messaging, we’re all they. We’re all contributing to this, this sense, this expertise and this second that we’re in proper now, deliberately or not, simply with our engagement on our telephones and our responses to these messages.
Did it really feel pure to take a seat within the director’s chair? Would you wish to do it once more?
Oh, in fact. I beloved it. I felt actually fortunate working with terribly proficient individuals. I didn’t even give it some thought actually, by way of whether or not or not it felt snug. We have been simply doing it. And there have been sure issues that, I suppose at some factors [that] stunned me from the expertise of being on set. [I’ve been] a storyteller for 30 years, so there was an intuition to know {that a} shot was lacking or what was mandatory or the way it must be arrange. However there have been additionally issues that I couldn’t know as a result of I haven’t studied the visible medium and the artwork type. [I didn’t know] why a specific angle can be more practical, and I realized a lot from Paul and Nick and Ste, who have been the lead animators on this and Michael Bayliss, who was an advisor.
Do you have already got a nugget of what you’d love to do subsequent?
Yeah, I do. Yeah. There are all the time concepts brewing. It’s only a matter of timing, issues coming collectively.
Is that within the animation world, or is that live-action? Or each?
Each.
That’s very thrilling.
That’s a pleasant factor to say. Thanks.
How was getting to look at your movie as a director as an alternative of an actor?
It was actually particular. I don’t assume that I actually took any time to contemplate it exterior of the co-operative effort that it was. It’s very related in that respect, as a result of each movie feels prefer it’s this household collab, you already know? This was in all probability extra intimate, as a result of it was over Zooms and it was independently accomplished. We did it as a result of we beloved it, and it was simply pleasure. It was simply this little facet factor, the little venture that might.
We have been simply seeing if we might, principally. If it might work and what it might finally quantity to ultimately. It’s only a shared love of the artwork type and desirous to dive in and discover a chance to play with these influences. The reference to issues that all of us grew up loving — these sequences for the [Pink Panther creator] Blake Edwards movies and Saul Bass’s graphics. The music of the period, all of that was joyful, to return to an more and more uncommon artwork type with the digitization of every part now. To have one thing that’s form of homegrown.
Is the plan to take it to extra festivals?
Yeah, we’ll see. Once more, it was that factor the place we form of [made this] from the set of Bridget Jones, within the trailer of Mad In regards to the Boy and in between press excursions, all of that. [Laughs.] And it felt actually pretty to be in Edinburgh as a result of it’s a U.Ok.-based manufacturing. So it felt like the suitable place to debut it.
Edinburgh Worldwide Movie Pageant 2025 runs Aug. 14-20.
