Renée Zellweger loved playing 'normal' Bridget Jones: 'It shifted expectations for what a leading lady can look like'
The Oscar winner also discussed the 'fixation' on her weight gain to play the role
Just like Mark Darcy, audiences across the globe fell in love with Bridget Jones, just as she is.
Twenty five years after the first Bridget Jones’s Diary was released in cinemas, star Renée Zellweger has reminisced on the "liberating" feeling of playing the beloved romcom heroine, while pointing out how absurd the "fixation" on her weight felt.
At the Tribeca Film Festival Q&A on June 12 for the movie’s 25th anniversary, Renée shared, "I love this character, and when people talk about the weight… There's nothing to fix. I think it sort of shifted our expectations for what a leading lady can look like."
Responding to the host’s question of why we were led to believe Bridget was "plus size", Renée said that the "fixation" on her weight was because "most romantic comedy heroines are polished and fit a particular paradigm for beauty in that moment, and this was not the paradigm.
"She was a normal girl and she looked like her lifestyle. She liked to have an extra helping, and she liked her chardonnay. She didn’t go the gym every day, and she’s gorgeous anyway. She gets the guy anyway".
At the time of the first movie’s release, Renée’s weight gain to play the role was a major focus of press attention. It was widely reported that Renee gained around 20 pounds to play the character.
Despite the fixation on her weight, Renee remembers stepping into Bridget as being a "liberating" moment. "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.
"It was so liberating to play someone who's having authentic experiences authentically. It became one of my favourite 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.’”
Based on Helen Fielding’s novels, the first Bridget Jones movie was a soaring success, earning back over ten times its production budget at the box office and being one of the few romantic comedies in history to earn an Oscar nomination (Renee was nominated for Best Actress).
What followed was the making of a new British cultural icon - Renee returned to star as Bridget in three sequels, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025).
On why the Texan native returned to play the loveable British character over the decades, Renee said, "It changed my life, in terms of sharing something in common with people everywhere in the world who love that character.
“That was really surprising to me. Making the film, I don’t think we thought it would have that effect in the long run. Everyone shares their Bridget Jones stories with you - it’s a huge blessing, really."
