Can singing a few very sad songs with a quivering voice in a trailer win you an Oscar? Hey, it worked for Anne Hathaway, and maybe, just maybe, it will work for Renée Zellweger. Zellweger is giving a very exact impersonation of Hollywood legend Judy Garland, down to a purposefully shaky performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,†in the upcoming movie/excuse to feel many gay emotions in a theater, Judy. The film is based on Peter Quilter’s play End of the Rainbow, adapted for the screen by Lovesick and The Crown’s Tom Edge, and directed by Rupert Goold, best known for stage work like American Psycho, King Charles III, and Ink. The movie takes place in 1968 as a struggling Garland arrives in London for her sold-out run at the nightclub Talk of the Town. Along the way, you get all those key music biopic beats, including romance, addiction, battles with management, and dramatically lit close-ups of the legend holding a microphone.
In addition to Zellweger, Judy stars Finn Wittrock as Garland’s fifth husband Mickey Deans, Rufus Sewell as her third husband Sid Luft, and Michael Gambon as her manager Bernard Delfont. Bella Ramsey plays Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft while Gemma-Leah Devereux plays her daughter Liza Minnelli (Minnelli herself, however, is not a fan of this film). Judy opens September 27. Regardless of the movie’s quality, we’re with the guy who shouts “We love you, Judy!†at the end of the trailer.