Date: 2nd April 2001

Renee Zellweger Nearly Ruins Bridget Jones By Bad Smoking


Renée ZELLWEGER nearly ruined some of her best scenes in BRIDGET JONES' DIARY (2001) by her terrible smoking techniques.

Zellweger, who spent months mastering an English accent and piling on the pounds (kilograms) to look and sound exactly like author HELEN FIELDING's weight-obsessed, man-obsessed heroine, says that the hardest challenge was actually in the smoking - because she's a complete novice.

Zellweger, who admits she's only ever smoked once - in college and she got sick straight after - got a friend to give her some basic instruction before filming began. She says, "I had my girlfriend from North Carolina who likes to have a Marlboro now and again teach me how to hold it.

But Zellweger adds there were a few aspects about her character's smoking that she didn't expect. She recalls, "
She didn't tell me the part about how, when you keep it in your mouth for a while it burns your eyes, so I was doing all these great scenes with Hugh and I was blinking away, trying so hard not to ruin his good job." (LE/WNV/PDD)

Source: WENN