Renée Zellweger says she was told by film producers to drink alcohol before nude scenes
The Oscar-winning actress spoke about the incident she says occurred early on in her career
Renée Zellweger says that, early on in her career, she was encouraged to consume alcohol by a film producer while on set.
In a cover story for Harper’s Bazaar, The Thing About Pam star explains that the incident occurred before she was expected to film nudes scenes. “There have been times I have been in, you know, on set, where a producer’s ready for me to go ahead and take my clothes off: ‘Here, drink this wine, ’cause then you’ll do it,’” Zellweger says. “And, you know, I’m not gonna take that wine, but I would like a phone. ’Cause I have a phone call I need to make right now.”
Though no specifics were given about the film producer or the production, Zellweger has previously spoken out about her hesitance to film nude scenes.
In 2001, the Oscar-winning actress told Premiere that she objected to filming a topless scene in the 1996 rom-com Jerry Maguire. Zellweger said that director Cameron Crowe’s intention wasn’t for the scene to be a “sleazy, gratuitous boob shot,” However, her push back against the nudity was heard by Crowe, and the scene was cut from the script.
She added, “When a woman stands naked in a room, unless that particular moment is held up by the subject matter, all you notice is that there’s a naked girl.”
A few years later for Ed Harris’ 2008 western Appaloosa, Zellweger revealed to The Boston Herald that she wasn’t fully nude in a river bathing scene. The actress wore those “little nudie things” during the scene, and she was initially worried about the shot. However, she says Harris “assured [her] that it was such a great distance you wouldn’t even be able to see that [she had] stuff on.”
“I look naked so we got the job done without doing it and that makes me happy,” continued Zellweger.