Q & amp;A Zellweger mystifies many viewers with fast rise to top, range of roles

The actress is busy filming 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,' due out next fall.
By DAVID GERMAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Renee Zellweger keeps quietly defying expectations.
In the mid-1990s, with mostly TV movies and small independent films on her resume, she beat out big-name Hollywood actresses for the lead role opposite Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire."
When Zellweger, whose voice retains a bit of the twang from her Texas upbringing, was cast as England's favorite lonely heart in "Bridget Jones's Diary," fans were outraged that a Yank got the part. Her endearing performance and impeccable British accent won naysayers over, with the 2001 romance becoming a worldwide hit and earning Zellweger a best-actress Academy Award nomination.
Critics scoffed when she was cast as scheming moll Roxie Hart in last year's musical "Chicago," with doubters wondering, could she even sing and dance? Zellweger proved a showstopper, earning her a second-straight best-actress nomination as "Chicago" became a smash hit and won the best-picture Oscar.
'Cold Mountain'
"Chicago" co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones won last year's supporting-actress Oscar. This time, it could be Zellweger going home with the supporting-actress prize for "Cold Mountain," co-starring with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman in Anthony Minghella's Civil War epic.
As dauntless Southern handy-woman Ruby, the 34-year-old actress deftly blends humor and touching drama, bringing a sweet sense of comic relief to the somber film.
Looking ahead to the Oscars is not something on a to-do list for Zellweger, who is busy filming "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," due out next fall.
Q. Mel Brooks once joked that while shooting "The Twelve Chairs" in Yugoslavia, all of Belgrade was lit by a single 10-watt bulb. Did you feel you were roughing it in Romania while filming "Cold Mountain"?
A. There were certain things that made you feel more creative than you might have before. There were interesting things that you'd get used to doing or doing without. But it's also wonderful because it makes you really aware of the excess that we get used to, that we would consider to be normal. It just reminds you of how little you really do need.
Q. That sounds a bit like your character Ruby's attitude.
A. Yes. It's a place where women would just grab things and do things, very much like this Ruby character, and not hesitate thinking about the difficulty of the task at hand. I saw an old lady who clearly had osteoporosis, probably in her 80s, carrying a bundle of thatched wood on her back -- a massive bundle, massive, about twice, three times her size -- walking on the side the road, slowly, taking her time, but she needed to get that parcel somewhere, and so it's going to get done.
Q. Gossip columnists love to write about how you gained weight for the "Bridget Jones" movies. Were you dreading or looking forward to putting on the feed bag again?
A. I thought about changing the diet and how my body's going to react to it because it goes through a little bit of a gastrointestinal sort of apocalypse when you change things so dramatically so quickly. But the thing that I probably was not looking forward to was the talk about it and how blown out of proportion it gets. It saddens me. I don't understand the fascination with it. It's just my job. You're supposed to look like the characters you play, and that's all I'm doing.
Q. Is there sexism at play? When Robert De Niro gained weight for "Raging Bull," people praised him for his devotion. In your case they're saying ...?
A. Does she look good? Does she look better Bridget-y or better bony? You know? It's crazy. I don't know if that's sexist. To me, it's just boring. It's interesting to me that it's perceived as some sort of sacrifice that you're making. It's not a sacrifice to get to play Bridget Jones. That's part of the reward, to get to go through that transformation. The more extreme the transformation, the more creatively satisfying the experience is.