Let it be known that Liza Minnelli is not happy about Renee Zellweger playing her mom, Judy Garland, in the upcoming biopic Judy.
It all started when Radar Online published a now-deleted article falsely claiming that Minnelli and Zellweger were “bonding” over the movie. That’s when Minnelli took to Facebook to shoot down the report, calling it “100% fiction.”
“I have never met nor spoken to Renee Zellweger,” Minnelli writes. “I don’t know how these stories get started, but I do not approve nor sanction the upcoming film about Judy Garland in any way. Any reports to the contrary are 100% Fiction.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
You got that, folks?
Judy tells the story of the Hollywood legend towards the end of her life. Zellweger plays Garland in 1968, the year before her untimely death caused by an overdose of barbiturates.
Minnelli is the oldest of Garland’s three characters, born in 1946 to Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. She will be portrayed by Gemma-Leah Devereux in the film, which is set for release later this year.
Related: Perez Hilton shames Renée Zellweger for not having children, ‘I have something she doesn’t have’
derek mcgillicuddy
I’ve learnt something new from “Queerty:” Judy Garland did not give birth to three children, but to three “characters.” Now I understand better how my mother gave birth to a ghost.
Josh447
Zactly my thoughts. I’ve learned we are all charactors not children (marginally humorous actually) and that learnt is an acceptable alternative to the word learned.
Thx class over.
Yeah even country boys know Judy Garland has a HHUUGGEE fan base.
Google/YouTube time kid.
inbama
They must have an overactive and slightly confused spellchecker.
asby
Is there really a huge Judy Garland fan base?
prarie pup
Judy Garland has been dead for 50 years. I imagine her fan base is as “huge” as Beethoven’s.
MikeE
@prarie pup: I’m actually pretty certain that, despite your your failed attempt at sarcasm, Beethoven’s fan club is far larger than Judy Garland’s.
ElPillo
Give Judy a chance. Watch her movies, listen to her live album. She’s a hoot. Will bring old fashioned camp back vs reality tv trump-style attention grabbing “camp.”
dgsea06
derek! I agree. I usually love QUEERTY’s captions and comments, But, “Minelli is the oldest of Garland’s three characters, born in 1946 to … Oh, Pleeze! Judy never gave birth to triplets, let alone in 1946.
asby: Yes! Judy Garland exhibited acceptance towards gay men and women when it could have ruined her carrer. She was so young when she did “The Wizard of OZ” gay guys all over the set, she figured that they were OK. She spent the rest of her life accepting and entertaining that thing-Y’know, “People”. Many movies, performances, she belted it out before Streisand, but Fame! Stardom! Fortune! Adoration! It seems that she found herself with her daughter Liza.
Now, Zellweger is a good actor. But Why dwell upon the “Last” days of Judy Garland’s life?
Let;s celebrate the good forces, mindful of the current bad forces, and make a movie about the truly positive life of Judy Garland. Yep, I’m a fan of Judy and of Liza.
No need for this foolishness. Just crank up a “stream” or Google or whatever and watch the deservedly named Legend do her superb performances.
Forget it, Zellweger, I love Judy Garland and you are no Judy Garland.
Chrisk
She really didn’t do much. I get it that it was the times but all she did was tolerate being around gay men. I’d think someone like Elizabeth Taylor would be a far better gay icon.
ElPillo
One doesn’t discount the other. Both were super supportive of gay men. Judy died before there was an AIDS crisis. And Taylor’s activism came only after she lost her good friend Rock Hudson. So happy she got involved but let’s be frank and recognize that it wasn’t her first instinct.
okbye
But she did it during a time when it was not the accepted thing to do. It’s easy to be a gay ally now, very few people care. During her time though it could have cost her her career. She’s always been pretty much THE gay icon. How do you think the saying “friend of Dorothy” came about? Except it wasn’t Dorothy so much as Judy. And starting as a teen, not an older and wiser woman of the world. It was just in her nature to be accepting. There is something to be said for being the first to do something scary or dangerous.
Taylor is a fine icon too but she did do her stuff as an adult. Not that she had any ulterior motives but she was old enough to know what she was risking and established enough not to care.
oaksong
@prairie pup, you have no idea. Without Judy there’s no Rainbow. Stonewall occurred the night after she died. Learn your history.
Chrisk
There were allot of things that caused Stonewall. Mostly people just getting tired of the police thugs. The damn was ready to break at any moment.
Tombear
Stonewall primary catalyst was the death of Judy Garland. Many of the queens had just gone to her viewing at the Cambell mortuary a few blocks from the Stonewall. These people were grieving because their idol had died! They were not in the mood to be hassled by the cops. When they threw a brick or hit a cop they were heard to say, “this ones for Judy!” Im glad I could teach the ignorant some gay history today!
Chrisk
@Tombear. Is what information this Washington Post article about it.
“no eyewitness account of the riots written at the time” mentions Garland as an inspiration or cause. Both he and Lanigan-Schmidt point out that the street youth most responsible for the riots were more likely to be listening to rock and R&B — not Judy Garland.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/was-stonewall-sparked-by-judy-garlands-death-inside-the-riots-hotly-contested-history/2016/06/24/36f01d80-396a-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4b3cdc14440b
ElPillo
Heil, heil!! She was supportive of gays and the gay community responded by standing strong against abuse during a raid.
dgsea06
prariepup: Not quite as Huge as Beethoven’s, but Beethoven’s music is still performed all over the world to sell out crowds hundreds of years after his death. Students and teachers still study his mathematical and musical genius. Beethoven took Bach, Haydn and Mozart’s mathematical genius and introduced the human emotion, along with Schubert and Brahms, and gave us a new perspective on music.
So much to learn, prariepup, so much to learn.
MikeE
Half of your response is fine, but then saying that “Beethoven took Bach, Haydn and Mozart’s mathematical genius and introduced human emotion” is pure BS.
Student’s and teachers don’t study Beethoven’s “mathematical genius”. They study his musical architecture and his sense of musical development. That has nothing to do with “mathematics”.
Evji108
I don’t think anybody could do justice to a star like Judy Garland, nor could anyone ever live up to her legend or her obsessive fans. I am willing to give Rene Zellwegger a chance and look forward to seeing her performance. It takes a lot of guts to even try and I have to give her a lot credit for that. Gurl got balls.
Jack Meoff
Didn’t they already make this movie with Judy Davis in the lead?
DCguy
She didn’t attack Zelweger she said she didn’t sanction the entire movie.
dunwoodyjoey
Minnnelli paid off her dead mother’s substantial debts, by herself, when she at the beginning of her career. Liza can say any goddamn thing she wants. She has more than paid her “dues”. On another subject, I find it impossible that any “budding pre-gay homo” has never seen “The Wizard Of Oz”. It alone should be presented as the answer to “praying the gay away” or “conversion therapy”. Without even trying every gay from 1939 forward cannot deny “Over The Rainbow”. Rene didn’t do THAT bad in “Chicago”. I am willing to see what she and her new face can do with this.
Josh447
It’s hard to consider Renee Zellweger could play Judy Garland. I don’t see a match up in those personalities or physicality at all. Natalie Portman seems more applicable. So if she pulls it off by great acting, that will be marvelous. And then the question looms; who the heck is going to do the singing in the movie? Maybe Renee has a hidden talent we’re not aware of.
I look forward to reading the reviews prior to making a decision about seeing the movie. My sense is it’ll be good.
dgsea06
Well MikeE- I did not say that students and teachers study Beethoven’s mathematics, I said that Beethoven studied Bach , Haydn and Mozart to formulate his musical architecture and musical development. With a little help from his friends. No, he hated Bach, Haydn and Mozart but he took from them the mathematical structure needed to form his own emotional structure. BS has nothing to do with this.
Have you ever noticed that early Bach sounds unhappy and pedantic? Bach wrote the Western Scales, ABCDEFG, (There is no H, I J or K!) 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time It’s all AlphaNumeric! Dig It! (Unless CDEFGABC fits your mood.)
Ever noticed that Early Haydn sounds like Late Bach? Early Mozart sounds like late Haydn? Early Beethoven sounds like late Mozart? And then le deluge! Late Beethoven sounds like Schubert, Brahms, Chopin and you better believe it! Great music from the greatest minds of all times.
Which brings me back to Judy Garland. She has a huge fan base as of today.
Beethoven’s music was not even played until a good hundred years after his demise. No fan base. Until, of course, somebody looked at the sheet music and determined that it was difficult but playable. Hard work for a musician but so overwhelming to hear.
We are lucky to have multiple recordings of the magnificient human woman named Judy Garland. Let’s celebrate her life! 50 years is nothing in the ol’ span of Legend.
JackieOMG
Too bad. From the photos, Liza and Renee look like they could have been separated at birth. Or maybe it’s just the cosmetic surgery.
Fcardoza
My question is why didn’t Liza Minnelli ever put a movie together about her mother when she still had the star power in Hollywood. She could have portrayed her in the way she liked, instead she has to see other people play her mom.