the darkness was all that remained,
then it might have been a different
experience. Her joy and her wit
and her kindness and her humor
never left. She was wildly funny.”
Garland’s surviving family
members (including daughter Liza
Minnelli) weren’t involved in the
making of the film, but Zellweger
did have hours of historical
Garland footage on the internet
to help inform the performance.
“I went down the rabbit hole and I
stayed there,” Zellweger says. “She
was always there—in headphones,
at night, there was always some-
thing to go to sleep with. I wanted
to feel her essence around and then
tell a human story, not mimicry.”
As for the awards buzz, Zellwe-
ger is trying her best to tune it out.
“I’m just not aware of this stuff,”
she says. “I’ve got to figure out
puppy care [for her pooches Chester
and Ellie] and get them healthy
before I go”—to the Toronto Inter-
national Film Festival, that is,
where Judy is one of the most
anticipated releases. Never mind
that for now. “There’s just pills and
creams and baths and all kinds of
things going on over here,” says
the low-key star. And you thought
Toto was a handful. —Tim Stack
The Must List2
Dear GirlsIntimate Tales, Untold
Secrets, & Advice for
Living Your Best LifeBOOKS
COMEDIAN ALI WONG’S NEW BOOK—
A COLLECTION OF LETTERS TO HER
TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS—IS FIERCE,
FEMINIST, AND PACKED WITH FUNNY
ANECDOTES...HERE’S JUST A PEEK
I was on my way to a San Diego
show in Friday afternoon traffic
from Los Angeles. Mari and
Grandma were in the car with me.
I was in gridlock traffic and there
was no end in sight. I was driving
and had to pee so bad. I finally
told Grandma, “Grab me one of
Mari’s diapers.” It was a size 3
diaper, so it was designed to hold
the pee of a human under twenty pounds. I shoved the
diaper in my underwear, pressed it against my p---y,
and peed into it. The diaper filled up within two sec-
onds. Then I told Grandma to grab me another diaper.
And another. And another. Mari, I peed into five of your
diapers and felt a huge sense of victory. “Pimp of the
Year” by Dru Down happened to start playing on the
radio. I threw up my arms (it’s okay, like I said I was
stuck in traffic so it was perfectly safe to take my
hands off the steering wheel to celebrate), and
screamed “Woooooo!” while my mom was laughing.
I had hacked this problem. I was “the Wolf” from Pulp
Fiction. I finally understood what they meant by having
it all. —From Dear Girls by Ali WongBy Ali Wong↓
↓ On stage as Garland, Renée Zellweger
gives her full razzle-dazzle to standards like
“Get Happy” and “Come Rain or Come Shine”