Actress Renee Zellweger says playing Bridget Jones was "liberating" because she could portray someone having "authentic experiences authentically." During a cast reunion at the Tribeca Film Festival celebrating the romantic comedy's 25th anniversary, Zellweger discussed her iconic role in the Bridget Jones's Diary franchise. She explained that the character gained so much attention because she was "a normal girl."
Breaking the Mold
"Most romantic comedy heroines are polished, and they fit a particular paradigm for beauty in that moment, and this was not the paradigm," Zellweger said, according to People.com. "She was a normal girl and she looked like her lifestyle. She liked to have an extra helping and she liked her Chardonnay and she didn't go to the gym every day and she's gorgeous anyway. She gets the guy anyway."
"Maybe more so, because she's so very herself that it makes her more attractive," she continued. Zellweger believes the character "sort of broke a norm in an unexpected way that it kind of spoke to people, me included."
A Shift in Expectations
"I love this character, and when people talk about the weight, I don't think of her as a person who is... There's nothing to fix. I think it sort of shifted our expectations for what a leading lady can look like," the actress added.
Zellweger also shared that playing such a "messy" character was "liberating." She said, "I loved it. I loved that I could cry and my mascara could run, and nobody was running in with the little things that made me not shiny. And I could have a runny, snotty nose when I cry like what happens in real life, and the wind blows and your hair's messy and nobody's running in to brush it and make it perfect."
Authentic Experiences
"It was so liberating to play someone who's having authentic experiences authentically," she said. "It became one of my favorite things to return to and have to remember every time, 'We don't have to worry about that. I don't have to think about that. We're not doing the makeup, pimples - great.'"
The star has previously been candid about gaining weight for the original 2001 film, as well as the first sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, though she opted not to for 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby. The character's obsessive calorie counting, which author Helen Fielding said came directly from her own university diaries, has been among the things criticized about the character over the years.
