Renee Zellweger Turns Sports Writer!

You might have first seen Oscar-winning, bubbly blonde actress Renee Zellweger when Tom Cruise had her at "hello" in the romantic Jerry Maguire. Renee has been both a fashion icon and fashion disaster (as Bridget Jones, one of her Oscar-nominated characters). She was nominated for Best Actress for the moxy Roxy she portrayed in the film musical Chicago and won Best Supporting for her back-country heroine in Cold Mountain. Now, in the George Clooney-directed romantic comedy Leatherheads, Renee plays a spunky reporter who is after some dirt on an American football hero back in 1925. Yes, there WAS football waaaay back then. It was just... different.

We learned that this is one superstar who is "regular people" and she really enjoys playing 'dress up' in movies. She also worried about messing up her pal George's movie, saying to herself, 'okay, just don't suck!' Before our interview, we accidentally stepped into her elevator at the 4 Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills and chatted about how "actually comfortable" her cute, very, very high Christian Louboutin heels were. "He makes them balanced so it's possible to walk in them". Wow, better petite Renee than me! I'd be about six feet tall in those shoes! Let's dish.....

TeenHollywood: Your dress [form-fitting black sweater-dress with black sequined waist] is nice, who is it by?

Renee: Oh, thanks very much! I went to get a birthday present for my friend at Louis Vuitton, and this was sitting there, and I thought, 'Well, that'll fold up nicely in a suitcase and not wrinkle, and I won't have to alter it and I'd wear it to work next week!'

TeenHollywood: Did you change your hair color a bit for the Oscars? [Renee's hair is now a short, blonde bob].

Renee: Yeah. We decided that you couldn't have dirty blonde hair with a silver dress, you know what I mean? The sparkly dress required a little old fashioned Hollywood platinum! I think it's getting back to dirty, which is good.

TeenHollywood: Did you know you had a special look; that you didn't look contemporary before you came to Hollywood?

Renee: I didn't think about what I looked like growing up. At all. Ever. I was taught to much later in life. It didn't matter. I was very busy living my life. Didn't think about it so much when I got here, either. You know, I knew that I didn't look like ' movie star'. I did know that I don't have those assets. [laughs] So to speak. But it didn't bother me too much because it didn't seem that it was going to help me with what it was that I was hoping to do.

TeenHollywood: There's something more to playing a past period than just looking the part.

Renee: Well, I enjoy it. I love it. Because I find that the further removed the character's reality is from my own, the more fun it is and the easier it is to dip within that alternate reality. I just really enjoy it. In fact, I'm so much more comfortable in a corset or the '20s sort of drop waist dresses and the way of delivering that dialogue than just being the girl who kind of looks like me and who might have the same clothes in her wardrobe as I do. I don't feel comfortable. I don't feel safe playing the girl who looks like me. There's not enough to hide behind.

TeenHollywood: Was your character Lexi really a girl of 1925? She's in a man's world as a sports writer.

Renee: I'm sure she existed. Absolutely. Just fewer opportunities, I suppose, to express herself, and for us to see her, you know?

TeenHollywood: You are also the only girl in a boys' club making the film. How did you handle that?

Renee: It was terrible, but somebody had to do it! [laughs] I had a great time, are you kidding me? Those fellas are fantastic. And yeah, sure, it was a boys' club. It really was. Most of this group worked together for years and years and years, and [George has] had the same friends for over 20 years, at least. And so it was really nice to be a part of that big, extended family. I had a great time at work. Who are we kidding?

TeenHollywood: How was working with Clooney the director vs. Clooney the actor? Who was more difficult to work with?

Renee: He's just so clever. He's my hero. I'd like to learn to have such grace in this business but I'd say they're equally impossible. That's a really, really tough gig to have. You have to be cognizant of what's happening as the director watching, and you have to not pay attention in order to be part of this alternate reality you're trying to create. So good luck. But he did a great job. He's focused and good at what he does. He's prepared. He knows what he's trying to achieve so he doesn't waste time. He's not indulgent. He's not insecure about it. He's a wonderful performer and he seemed to have the faculties of a much more experienced filmmaker.

TeenHollywood: We heard that the extras on the North Carolina set were surprised to find you coming out of their port-a-pottie. Is mixing with the extras something that stars do often?

Renee: Hey, I expect when you gotta go, you gotta go! We had a great time down there. It's sort of like a pre-requisite in that region of the country that you are polite. People are just generous and fun, and warm welcomes everywhere we went. I had a great time. The food was good, too. Oh, man! And as far as the porta-can is concerned...It's always surprised me that people are surprised when somebody is just kind of normal, you know? [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about John Krasinski coming into his own? Was there much debate on the set amongst women about who was hotter between George and John?

Renee: [laughs] That was more on the streets! You know, you drive to work and there'd be the cheering section for George and the 'I Love Johnny K' signs everywhere. I think he's a wonderful person. He's funny and smart and charming and he's kind. I think he's very special. I think he's one of those that doesn't come along all the time. I respect him. I think he's really good at what he does. So I enjoyed being at work with him a lot. It was just so fun. It was a lot of fun to watch him not really knowing how good he is, you know? And the scarier part is knowing what's in store for him, and remembering what that might have been like a long time ago with Mr. Cruise on the set.

TeenHollywood: He said he was terrified on the train set, and you calmed him down.

Renee: Well, I don't know, I just liked him and thought he was nice. No, I'm kidding. I just remember crying behind a few fake bushes on the set of Jerry Maguire when nobody could see. Yeah, I do. I remember. I remember it well. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: What do you think about the type of journalist you play? She's digging the dirt.

Renee: I don't know that I'd like her job very much. I understand the responsibility that journalists have to report the truth, and I appreciate that. I mean, we're at an interesting crossroads with that right now, because I find that there's not so much accountability any more. You don't necessarily have to report the truth, you just need to be first. I think there's a better way to make money. But yeah, I don't know that I'd be comfortable with having that much responsibility in terms of shaping the course of another person's life. I don't know that I would. Especially if I knew that I could do damage to it.

TeenHollywood: Are you a football fan, being from Texas? And if so, who's your team?

Renee: Oh yeah, you're born with that. It's a genetic thing. Again, it's a pre-requisite, isn't it, to living in that region of the country? You like your football. Oh sure. Right now, I've gotta be a Cowboys fan. Yeah, I have to. I have to. You know, to maintain the relationship with my brother.

TeenHollywood: Did you get to play football with the guys between takes?

Renee: Oh, I got in trouble! At one point we were throwing the ball outside on the day where the crowd shows up to see them practice for the first time and I had my stupid little heels on and my hat, and George came out and said, 'Put that thing down! Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!' [laughs] 'What am I going to do with you?' [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Was the dialogue hard for you? Lexi has some great lines! What kind of preparation did you do?

Renee: It was hard because she's so confident and quick, and she's so witty and funny and spot-on, and she doesn't miss a beat! And it's hard to play that when you're terrified that you're going to be the person who destroys your friend's movie. [laughs] You go to work and you're thinking, 'Okay, don't suck. Just don't suck. Don't forget that, and don't do that.' It's this added pressure of not wanting to disappoint your friend who has put so much faith in you.

TeenHollywood: The clothes in this are great. Lexi has some cute outfits.

Renee: I liked the red one.

TeenHollywood: Do costumes make it easier to get into character?

Renee: It just helps. I love it. It's a disguise. It's a nice buffer between pretending to be somebody else and who you are. It just adds one more thing that you can depend on. I loved that orange coat. Boy, it was hotter than Hades on that day, and I didn't care! And my purple scarf with the polka dots? Oh, I loved that stuff! And I loved how brave she was in terms of the combinations of things that she would just throw together. Like the blue shoes with the purple polka dotted scarf, and this bright orange and gold jacket. Absolutely beautiful. And who thinks of that when you're recalling the 1920s in America? You think gray and bleak and wool with holes, and the Depression era. You don't think of roaring, celebrated, bright, and fantastic in that way.

TeenHollywood: Why are you so normal and down to earth?

Renee: It's the hardest part of my job. I have the most difficult time with the days that people don't see you or hear you or communicate with you, but with who they perceive you to be before they meet you. I work every day to try to negotiate it and to sort of neutralize it, and just be the person that's standing there, you know? I want to have real conversations and I want to be a fly on a wall in a room. I want to be able to watch and peoplewatch. I know it sounds so crazy, but boy I cherish it when somebody's mean because they're just having a bad day, and they don't recognize that you know Tom Cruise and so they alter their behavior in some way. I love it when the stewardess is just nasty! I do. It's fantastic. And I just shrink when she comes back and apologizes because she didn't realize [who I was]. You know what I mean? It's just yucky, you know?

TeenHollywood: Is it harder to just be yourself when everything you do gets in the news?

Renee: They write articles about the bad day they think you're having, when they see you from across the room! 'Her body language definitely indicated that she's clearly upset with this person.' Seriously! I mean, I've read that!

Renee will soon be in the Western Appaloosa with Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris and is producing a TV movie for Lifetime TV about a doctor who discovered a new cancer treatment. The film will release during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.