She has won two Oscars, Critics Choice awards, Golden Globes, SAG honors, BAFTAs, and so many other show business honors. Now Renee Zellweger could add an Emmy or two to her shelf as star and executive producer of NBC’s limited series, The Thing About Pam, a domestic real life crime tale mixed with dark comedy in which Zellweger is almost unrecognizable as suburban housewife Pam Hupp who becomes embroiled in the murder of Betsy Faria, something Faria’s husband was initially convicted for. But when it comes to Hupp the road is long and twisty and things aren’t always what they seem. Transforming herself, with the help of prosthetics, a vocal coach, and other character traits, Zellweger found this role irresistible when she was convinced to listen to the popular podcast based on the 2011 events surrounding the Faria murder and Hupp’s involvement, as well as the NBC Dateline episodes. The star was sold and made it her first major role since winning her second Oscar , and first for Best Actress in Judy, the biopic that focused on Judy Garland’s final act. She joins me for this week’s edition of my Deadline video series, The Actor’s Side and we discuss all aspects of this latest chapter in a career that has included such movie highlights as Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jones Diary, Chicago, Cold Mountain, Nurse Betty, Down With Love and so much more since the Texas native broke through in 19993’s Dazed And Confused. Diving now into television, but specifically network TV with a project very different from the usual broadcast fare, Zellweger talks about it all and why she was happy it debuted as a weekly limited series on NBC before hitting streaming. To watch our conversation and get the ‘actor’s side’ of things from Renee Zellweger just click on the link above.
Join me each Wednesday during Emmy season for another edition of The Actor’s Side.