Renée Zellweger's Judy transformation called for hand-painted mascara tracks—and a set of perfectly snaggled teeth
For a woman electrified by the spotlight, Judy Garland’s mood backstage could be dim. Halfway throughset in late 1968 during an erratic residency at London’s Talk of the Town, the singer, played byslumps at a makeup table overrun with flowers. Sodden, she asks through smudged black tears, “What if I can’t do it again?”the movie’s hair and makeup designer, was ready to wipe away those hand-painted mascara tracks and lay a fresh set for the next take.
That tension between raw vulnerability and technical precision was one of many qualities that made Garland such a fascinating performer. It’s also key to Zellweger’s riveting transformation—humane and elastic, yet tightly orchestrated, from a snaggletoothed smile to the theatrical gestures minted in MGM musicals. But the first person that directorhad to convince about the casting was Zellweger herself.
Zellweger tumbled down internet rabbit holes, studying Garland’s deep-voiced cadence and hunched posture as well as smaller details, like her curiously evolving eyebrows. “They’re truly different than when she was young,” says the actor. The explanation, uncovered in writings by Garland’s former assistant,was wig tape that stretched from temple to temple, doubling as the lo-fi brow lift of the day.
Playing a star seared into cinematic memory invites side-by-side comparison, of course—Zellweger’s delicate bone structure versus Garland’s more pronounced features, for one. Initial makeup tests went the distance, with jarringly accurate false teeth and a full kit of facial prosthetics. Almost none of them were used. “It was definitely a look, but I just couldn’t see the actor in it at all,” Goold said. In the end, Garland’s button nose stayed , as did a set of sensibly crooked veneers.
Caricature, cartoon, mimicry: All are pitfalls of the biopic. The key here was a mind’s-eye interpretation—Judy at her most Judy—rather than era-specific fidelity. For the jaunty black wig, fabricated byand custom-dyed and cut by Woodhead, that meant a choppier look with a “slight Elvis-y quality,” per Goold. Chocolate-brown contact lenses with enlarged irises helped recreate Garland’s gaze as strikingly as Zellweger’s vocals. Still, it was not all drama.
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