Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Renee Zellweger responds to freakout about her face

From Wire Reports

On Monday, Renee Zellweger showed up at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards wearing a dress and makeup, as actresses who show up to such events are wont to do.

By Tuesday morning, the freakout over her allegedly much-altered appearance was well on its way to peak freakout.

So by that night, Zellweger found it necessary to issue a response, and did so in the form of a statement to People:

“Perhaps I look different. Who doesn’t as they get older?! Ha. But I am different. I’m happy,” she told the magazine.

She called the freakout “silly.” She said she’s glad “folks” think she looks different. She said her friends think she looks “peaceful.”

“I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows,” she told People. “… For a long time I wasn’t doing such a good job with that. I took on a schedule that is not realistically sustainable and didn’t allow for taking care of myself. Rather than stopping to recalibrate, I kept running until I was depleted and made bad choices about how to conceal the exhaustion. I was aware of the chaos and finally chose different things.”

Cooper stretches for ‘Elephant Man’

Bradley Cooper will contort his limbs into uncomfortable positions for eight shows a week when he begins his run in the Broadway revival of “The Elephant Man.” That means he’ll need to take extra care of his body to stay limber.

“I have an inversion table,” Cooper said. He’ll use it twice a day and have a chiropractor nearby.

The play by Bernard Pomerance, which premiered at the Booth Theatre in 1979, shows some two dozen snapshots in the life of the grotesque Joseph Merrick, tracing his journey from an abused circus freak to a curiosity of London’s high society. Cooper won’t use prosthetics, opting instead to imply disfigurement through facial expression and twisted posture.

Cooper became fascinated by Merrick’s life after seeing the 1980 film version by David Lynch, which he cites as the catalyst for wanting to pursue a career in acting.

But he wasn’t acquainted with the stage production until much later, when he was studying at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York.

Cooper, a veteran of “The Hangover” franchise, will join a special list of actors to portray Merrick, including Philp Anglim, David Bowie, John Hurt and Billy Crudup.

The birthday bunch

Movie director Philip Kaufman is 78. Director Ang Lee is 60. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 58. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 58. Singer “Weird Al” Yankovic is 55. Bassist Robert Trujillo of Metallica is 50. Drummer Brian Nevin of Big Head Todd and the Monsters is 48. Bassist Eric Bass of Shinedown is 40. Actor Ryan Reynolds is 38. Singer Matthew Shultz of Cage the Elephant is 31. Actress Masiela Lusha (“George Lopez”) is 29. Singer Miguel is 29. Actress Briana Evigan is 28. Actress Jessica Stroup (“90210”) is 28.