Pathé and Calamity Films have set a February 2018 start date for principal photography on Judy, based on the true story of Judy Garland’s final concerts in London. Renee Zellweger, Academy Award winner and three-time Academy Award nominee (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cold Mountain and Chicago), will play Judy Garland, and celebrated British stage director, Rupert Goold (a Tony nominee and two-time Olivier winner) will direct.
Winter 1968 and showbiz legend Judy Garland arrives in Swinging London to perform in a sell-out run at The Talk of the Town. 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 romance seem undimmed as she embarks on a courtship with Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband. And yet Judy is fragile. After working for 45 of her 47 years, she is exhausted; haunted by memories of a childhood lost to Hollywood; gripped by a desire to be back home with her kids. Will she have the strength to go on? 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.”
The film is based on a script written by Tom Edge (The Crown) and will be produced by BAFTA winner David Livingstone (Pride) for Calamity Films. Pathé will distribute the film in the UK, France and Switzerland and will handle sales throughout the rest of the world.
Currently starring in the drama Same Kind of Different as Me, Zellweger will next be seen in Best Day of My Life opposite Sarah Jessica Parker and will appear in the anthology feature Berlin, I Love You.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
