Filming started on Judy Garland biopic

Principal photography begins today on JUDY, based on the true story of Judy Garland’s final concerts in London.

Renée Zellweger, Academy Award winner and three times Academy Award nominee (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cold Mountain and Chicago), plays Judy Garland. Cast members joining Zellweger include Jessie Buckley (War and Peace), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter).

JUDY is directed by Tony nominee and two times Olivier winner Rupert Goold (King Charles III).  The film is based on a script written by Tom Edge (The Crown) and is produced by BAFTA winner David Livingstone (Pride) for Calamity Films.

Goold’s creative team includes Director of Photography Ole Bratt Birkeland (The Crown), Musical Director Matt Dunkley (Black Swan), Editor Melanie Oliver (Les Miserables), Costume Designer Jany Temime (Harry Potter), Make Up and Hair Designer Jeremy Woodhead (Doctor Strange) and Production Designer Kave Quinn (Far from the Madding Crowd).

Winter 1968 and showbiz legend Judy Garland arrives in Swinging London to perform in a sell-out run at The Talk of the Town.

It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in THE WIZARD OF OZ, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown.

As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians, and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through.  Even her dreams of romance seem undimmed as she embarks on a courtship with Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband.

And yet Judy is fragile.  After working for 45 of her 47 years, she is exhausted; haunted by memories of a childhood lost to Hollywood; gripped by a desire to be back home with her kids.  Will she have the strength to go on?

Featuring some of her best-known songs, including the timeless classic ‘Over the Rainbow’, JUDY celebrates the voice, the capacity for love and the sheer pizzazz of “the world’s greatest entertainer”.

JUDY is a Pathé, BBC Films and Ingenious Media presentation of a Calamity Films Production.   Executive Producers are Cameron McCracken for Pathé, Rose Garnett for BBC Films and Andrea Scarso for Ingenious.

Laurence Myers, Lee Dean, Aaron Levene, Charles Diamond, Ellis Goodman and Hilary Williams will also receive Executive Producer credits.

Pathé will distribute the film in the UK, France and Switzerland and will handle sales throughout the rest of the world.

Photo Credit : Pathe UK