Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Q&A

Renée Zellweger talks about the Bridget Jones sequel

How are you?

I'm fine. Now, I have this conversation. We did the Shark Tale stuff, what, was it about a month and a half ago now? About a month ago? It was so funny. Everyone said, "So, what's the difference now as compared to 10, 11 years ago when you kinda started doing this?" And I said, "Well, it's friends because you start to recognize people and you start to look for people." Even the girls from Japan. It's nice. Anyway, good morning.

Were you reluctant to do this movie, what changed your mind about the film and the weight thing, and have you begun to identify more with Bridget's hopeless optimistic romanticism?

I try my best. I try my best, to answer your second question. About the weight issue, I don't know where the notion that I was hesitant to have that experience in the first place came from, or that I had negative feelings about the experience the first time around. I don't know where that came from. I read it myself somewhere and I don't know where that surfaced but it didn't come from me. It wasn't a negative experience in any respect. It contributed so much to the experience of bringing Bridget Jones to life the first time. And so I knew that it was essential in repeating the journey. It had to be authentic to me. It had to be. And if you're not going to become the character and be the character, then I don't really see the point in undertaking the experience. I wanted to have that experience and people were suggesting to me, "Oh, it might not be necessary." Or, "You shouldn't do as much as you did last time because it's probably not healthy." For me, then it would render the experience pointless from a creative perspective. I wanted to revisit this character in every respect. Getting to that point, deciding to go forward and make a follow-up film, it took a while. Probably because the first experience meant so much to me and because I have so much respect for this character and also what she represents. I didn't want to compromise that in any way by following up with a film that meant nothing just because we could. I wanted to be certain that the motivation for making this film came from a creative place. And I wanted to be certain that it was a film that was substantial enough that it could stand on its own regardless of what had happened with the first picture. I wanted to be sure that it was a necessary film and that this character had more stories to tell. I was more comfortable with the idea of making this film because it's not a sequel in the traditional sense. There is a book that has been written and so her journey has continued and I had nothing to do with it. It was there already from Helen Fielding obviously. So, that being said, it gave it purpose. But again, it was just being careful that we wouldn't do anything that might blasphemize the first or how people felt about this character because we went forward irresponsibly with her.

And identifying with her?

I'm trying, like I said. I do my best. It's what I admire most about her is her ever present optimism in the face of so much adversity. I love that she's able to laugh at herself and get back up and keep on trying. Well, I do my best. I keep on trying anyway.

Is it reasonable that she wants a proposal after 6-8 weeks of a relationship?

Hmm, okay. I think that that's a really good question because it's something that stood out for me in the filming process. It wasn't something that I found easy to justify on the day when we were standing in the hallway and I was trying to think to myself, "Why? Where does this come from?" And I think that it's made fairly clear afterward. And if not, I'm not sure which version of the film that you've seen, but it was an issue that I've had. I was not comfortable with because I thought, "Does that imply that this is a character who's a little bit unrealistic in her expectations and does it make her seem a little bit desperate for something that ultimately isn't at the core of what drives her?" Yes, love is important to her obviously, but it's more specific. It's love with this person. It's not love period or just the idea of having that manifest itself in her life. I thought that okay, I understand this. I think she is aware that it's inappropriate. I think that at that desperate time, women, we all know that you don't even bring up "Are you seeing other people" at six weeks, let alone "So, are we doing this for the long haul or not?" No matter how desperately you want to say, "Are you calling other people because I'm not calling other people and I just wanna know if you're committed to me…" you don't do it. It's breaking the rules. And I think if anything that you can love Bridget for it's her inability to sometimes refrain from those outbursts. And I found justification in that moment, in that particular quality of her essence, I love that she can't contain herself and not only is she not going to say, "You're just seeing me, right" but "So, you wanna marry me or not?" And it's completely inappropriate and I think that after she leaves his house, I think it becomes pretty evident that she knows that she's made a big mistake there. And that not only is it unreasonable, but it probably might have been the catalyst to the end of this relationship for having terrified the man with the outburst.

Was it hard to get the accent back and the walk? And who was the best kisser?

I'll never tell the answer to question number three. Not ever. But I will say it's not a bad day at work, is it? And let's see, the walk and the accent, certain things about this character just feel right and in playing her, they just sort of seemed to surface from somewhere. I don't know. You pay attention to them, but they find themselves into the day, into the reanimating of this character. The dialect on the other hand, boy, that I had to pay a lot of attention to. It was like starting over again. I was terrified of it because it was something that evolved and became very colloquial in a very specific way last time. And so it just sort of evolved in a really natural way and to try to force that to come back was an interesting process because it is so specific. I have Barbara Berkery there every day saying, "No, that was too precise. Slushier, slushier." Because Bridget has kind of a lispy thing that she does. So there was a lot to pay attention to, but let me tell you, I had a lot of help.

Are you going to take a year off?

I heard that too. Thanks, when do we start?

The last person who said that was Gwyneth. Next day she's pregnant. Is it that, or working with Russell Crowe?

I can only imagine I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It might be an exciting morning. I have no idea. It'll be interesting. I'll probably call you first. I'll call my mom first and then I'll call you if I have anything to report. I seriously doubt it. It's logistically not possible. But no, I don't even know how to answer this. No, no specific reason, no reason that exciting anyway. And I just haven't committed to another film and I'm not aggressively seeking on at this time. I think I need to take a little time and just be a girl. I need to, I don't know, collect some experiences as a person and not just as a person who's emulating someone else. I think it's essential. To tell life stories, you have to have a little life to draw from and I'm a little tapped out in that department. I need to go and just be a girl for a little while. I'm a woman now and I'd like to refamiliarize myself with now what's important to me and what I like now as a woman.

Rather than becoming other characters?

Yeah, and living in somebody else's apartment in somebody else's country, in somebody else's body. I'd like to just kind of see where the day might take me if I didn't have it booked up on behalf of some commitment or other. And I can't really take a year off because there's no such thing really. It's just different phases of the cycle of making a film. So now this one's finished and it's coming out, and then Cinderella Man, I have to finish that up and then do post production on that obviously and go around with that. And I think by that time, my year is probably up. My year off will be up. But yeah, I'm not going to go hop in a makeup chair any time soon I don't think.

Why was it indispensable to gain the weight? Why not have Bridget struggling with anorexia?

Living in a really great apartment in New York. No, I think it's core to who she is. If it's not going to be who she is, what's the point? That's what's so satisfying about it.

How was it for yourself?

It was a little bit different because I knew where I needed to go. And again, it was a question of can we do it in time? And again, I had a lot of help to get there. Somebody else doing the math and putting the plate in front of me and saying, "Here, eat this." And ultimately, it worked out. Emotionally, it doesn't affect me. It didn't affect me except that I was afraid all the time that it would be not right, not enough because we worked so much. We did six days and the seventh day was committed to other work responsibilities. So I was constantly going, so my fear was that there would be fluctuations and those would disappear, yes, exactly. And then it would be noticeable. And I didn't want that. I didn't want to compromise on this film in any respect. It was so important to me that we come from a place of integrity in approaching this project, so everything about authenticating the character's experience was unconditionally - not mandatory, but essential. It just was.

What is her biggest mistake with Mark Darcy?

Well, it's that thing that we tend to do sometimes, just projecting our fears or expectations of failure onto what's actually good, onto what's really fine as it is. I think she also had unrealistic expectations about the knight on the white horse. And no one can be that all the time. And then normal is good enough. I think she comes to learn that though. I think she comes to see that there's nothing wrong, that she should just leave it alone, let it be good.

After the first film, did women on the street share romantic stories with you?

I'm very lucky. I make a lot of friends on the street, yeah. Guys too. I am Bridget Jones.

What were the best?

Oh boy, marriage proposals that happened. All sorts of things like that. I could go on for days. It's been four years worth of stories in 25 countries. It's pretty fascinating.

Do they think you have the answers?

Me? Do they think I do? Oh god, I hope not. Boy, I hope not. I don't presume to. I don't give out any love life advice. Bad idea.

How did you like Thailand?

I'm not really great in the sun, so that was hilarious actually. You'll have to ask Hugh about that. I'm never going to live it down. I seriously look like I was wearing a pup tent the whole time I was down there. All the English folk who don't get so much sun usually, had their shirts off and were vary proud of the blaring day-glow white. And everybody half naked on the beach just loving it at Christmas time and I had at least 22 layers on, because I burn through the hotel wall. I do, honestly, so that was a challenge to shoot the scene out in the water for six hours and try to cover up the sun rash for the next week. That was the challenge. I'm not so great at it, but culturally in terms of what I learned, it was fascinating. It was fantastic. And the shrimp was really great on the beach too.

What other preparation did you do for the second film?

This was more. This was a little different this time. Obviously, I couldn't snoop around in the office as easily so we didn't try to do that and I'm pretty familiar with television stuff from the work that I do. So I felt pretty comfortable in that respect. I felt like I can remember enough from what we had done before that it didn't just disappear. So I thought, "Okay, I'll be all right in that respect." This time it was more about preparing to go in terms of script and in terms of being certain that nothing had been left out and that it was as complete and substantial as it possibly could be. But everything had been considered and that we were in no way compromising these characters.

You didn't go to a Thai prison as research?

I was going to make a joke about a wild night in Thailand, but I won't.

Were you okay with the snow?

I loved it. Again, it was a little easier to avoid the sun rash.

Did you do your own stunts?

Yeah, I did do my own stunts.

Even the skiing?

Yeah, it was awesome. I've never been on, what's the race course called, the slalom? I did the slalom with two members of the Austrian ski team on each side. No, crazy. No, crazier is the man who filmed the thing. He was an extreme skier and he filmed extreme sports, the helicopter, snowboarding and things like that. He was skiing backwards down the slalom with the camera strapped around his torso, that he looked down into and held right here. He never looked up, never. And he was depending on me to tell him when he was about to be killed. By trees or veering off too far to the edge of the mountain never to be heard from again. So it was very exciting. Especially the sun was going down, you couldn't really see at that point but we had to get it because we were leaving. It was exhilarating and insane, and it's amazing the insane things that you'll just go ahead and do because you're running out of light.

Should women be offended that Bridget is portrayed as so desperate? What do women like about her?

So much. I think it's her humanity. I think it's that she's so honest about how she feels and what I find is that I don't think that she's needy or desperate. I think it's her actions that are completely contrary to what you're suggesting. See, you're privy to her inner dialogue as an audience member, as a person reading the book. You're privy to what it is that she's most afraid of or what she anticipates might be her greatest failure or what her own shortcomings are. But she never fails to trudge forward and to believe that she's going to be fine and she always moves on. And she always succeeds. She always goes for what it is that she would like to have happen in her life, and ultimately makes certain that it manifests itself there. And it's not for her about finding happiness in this antiquated ideology that a man and woman should be together in order for a woman to feel complete. This is very specific. In the first film, we see a woman who's trying to come to terms with how she defines happiness for herself, as opposed to what it is that people project onto her. In terms of what they expect should make her happy, what she ought to do, what she ought to look like. Who she ought to be, what she ought to have in order to have a better life and be a better person and be happy. And by the end of that film, we see that she's all right with who she is. And she's figuring out what it is that she wants. She moves onto a job that she thinks will satisfy her. She stands up to a boss who belittles her and she finds love, because she believes that it can happen. And in this film, it's more specific. It's a more specific experience of not ruining the good things in our lives because of our fears and how ultimately, we have to find something wrong. But in the end, this is a woman who exposes herself to you and that's what I think people find appealing is that we can relate to standing in the hallway, wanting to know, "So, do you like me like that or not?" And we love that she just goes ahead and blurts it out in this ridiculous way that makes her seem, like you said, not strong. And then ultimately, she never fails to get up and move forward. That's strength to me. That's not weakness and that's not needy from my perspective.

Would you do a Bridget Jones 3?

Oh my Gosh, that's not up to me, is it? Ask Helen Fielding.

How is working with Russell Crowe?

Oh, tough for different reasons. Tough for different reasons. Russell is very talented. Very talented.

Was Cinderella Man a tougher character for you?

A tougher character. It was difficult because she's not so present on the page. It's more internalized and it was about researching and coming to understand who she was, to understand what society was like at the time and so how that would make an impact in who she was.

Colin Firth on the Bridget Jones's Diary sequel

Does Darcy have a character arc? If not, what was the challenge of bringing something unique to Darcy?

I don't know if there's an arc. The Darcy thing's been going on for so long for me. It's beginning to feel like an arc that dates back to 1994. This felt like another episode in this ongoing story of some guy's life in one version or another. I suppose that if there's a shape to what he goes through, in some ways it would be the path from the film three years ago. What happens when they walk off into the sunset? What happens to happily ever after? You see something of their - the bliss of their relationship, which I think is one of the hardest things that you can seek to portray in any sort of genre or comedy. You see the irritations and you see the patterns repeat themselves. You see the things that annoyed each of them about each other when they first met actually come to haunt them. You see them separate, and then, you actually see a pattern that's actually one we've seen before. She suspects him of being, well, she finds him standoffish. She finds him arrogant, rigid and all the things that she didn't like when she first met him all come back. And all the good deeds he's doing are hidden away. He doesn't demonstrate any of them. Daniel Cleaver comes back on the scene. So you've basically got it very familiar.

Were you ready to do this again?

I didn't want to think of it as "again." You see, I think it certainly wouldn't have been something I wanted to do if it felt like doing it again. The way we like to characterize this is that it is an adaptation of a novel, which was finished, done, dusted and an entity in its own right, I think already on the shelves by the time we made the first film. So, it did have a right to exist. It wasn't just conjured up to try to cash in on an earlier film. Having said that, yes, we were extremely cautious all of us I think. We didn't want it just to seem like an homage to something else. There are great dangers when the first film is very much loved. But we didn't want to mess with that really. And I don't think anyone recalls ever having said "Yes" to this job. It was something that, you know, there was a momentum that happened and it seemed inevitable. Not unlike getting your draft papers really.

Did you rehearse the fight scene? How did you get it to look so realistic?

We didn't rehearse it very much. I'm ashamed to say the reason it looked real is because we were two normal fellows who don't know how to fight. My experience of violent confrontation dates back to the playground age, about six or seven years old. So that's what I drew from, and I think Hugh would say the same. If you get two very angry yuppies and then put them together, I think you will get a fight that looks much more like that than Jackie Chan.

Would you do a Bridget Jones 3?

In the abstract, it's unthinkable. I don't really plan in the long term about anything. I can't think where a sequel could go. I think this time one would have to think of it as a sequel, unless Helen wrote another book. The only which I could possibly imagine it being interesting is that if it showed us in a state of advanced decrepitude really, a heavily deteriorated Mark Darcy. I think we're on the way. And Daniel Cleaver and Bridget, really puncturing the fairy tale completely might be a way to take it. But I've been ready to move on to other things for quite a while now actually. I'll be quite content to live my life without another one.

Would you be willing to alter your physical appearance/weight like Renée did for a role? What was your reaction to her doing that?

I didn't give it as much thought as many people do. The degree to which I'm asked questions about it and the sheer level of fascination on the subject is I think really a symptom of how this issue affects people, particularly women. The fact that women are in utter disbelief that anyone would consciously go the other way - to actually try to do that - is mind blowing. And I think they look at Renée with the same kind of awe that people watch someone on a high wire or something. Are they going to fall? How could anyone jump across the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle? Put on weight on purpose? What's that like? Tell us about it. She did it. It's not that unusual for actors to alter their appearance to play a part. Put on a bit of weight, lose a bit of weight. I mean I have done that before, advertently and otherwise. Not to perhaps quite that extent, but I think if I did it, it wouldn't get anywhere near the amount of attention.

Wouldn't it depend on how many pounds?

Yes, it would. I think that the most spectacular is the example that I think that I can remember, the first example that I know of, is what DeNiro did in Raging Bull. And I think that did get a lot of attention from people astonished, partly because of the extent to which he did it. It was a sacrifice made. I think he talked afterwards about having damaged his health to some extent.

Or Tom Hanks going the opposite way.

And then getting skinny. These are dangerous things to do. I think that's probably the thing that occurred to me most. I just hoped Renée was under the proper supervision, and I think she was. I think you are taking your health in your hands. I think it's a very courageous thing to do. But the reason why people are really interested isn't because of that. I just think it's absolutely fascinating to think that a woman would dare to do that on purpose, particularly someone who's very attractive and has a Hollywood-based career. It just seems almost reckless. So I think that's been admired and I think that, to be honest, Bridget doesn't have to be particularly overweight. I mean this is about women think they are whether they are or not. But on the other hand I think if she'd been, if she'd had the kind of leanness that only Hollywood actresses have, I think it would have been quite hard to accept her as representing that kind of neurosis. So it was important that she did it.

What about the two of you working together this time?

Well, the second time you have a shorthand and everything's much easier. You cut to the chase much quicker and I found it delightful to watch a character that was now familiar to me. It gave me a lot for nothing really.

Do you share any characteristics with Darcy? Who would win in a fight between you and Hugh Grant?

The second one, obviously it would depend on who you ask. We haven't put it to the test. I would say judging by Hugh's apparent level of physical strength while we were engaged in the fight and the number of times he asked for the nurse, I think there's no doubt in my mind really. No, I can assure you I've never folded a pair of underpants in my life.

Have you had any odd encounters with fans from doing Bridget Jones?

My life has been largely taken up with weird encounters. They're not particularly anecdote-worthy. They're just people very often, and they're polite usually. These don't take the form of propositions or psychotic belief that you really are the character that you're playing. They're people who obviously identify very heavily with a female character and we are devices seen through her eyes. It's quite interesting to be in that position because very often it's not that way. the sexual roles are reversed in cinema conventions. It's much more often the male protagonist and the women the device. And we are I suppose somewhat archetypal. In that way it's resulted in the fact that we remain the archetype, we remain something that was deliberately created in the eyes of a woman who wrote a book, gained through the adaptation and through the eyes of a central character. All of them are female, directed by a female.

In the book, Bridget Jones interviews Colin Firth. Was this scene considered for the film? Would you play a dual role like that?

No, it starts to get confusing. No, there was never any talk of Colin Firth appearing as a character. That wasn't contemplated for even a second. In fact, when the contract was being negotiated for Bridget Jones's Diary four years ago, I remember when they were discussing the option for the sequel, which was part of the contract, I think my agent said to whoever was at the other end of this, who, "If there is a sequel, who will play Colin Firth?" And there was a long pause at the other end of the phone, and the woman said, "We'll call you back." They called Kit about a half an hour later, saying, "There are currently no plans to feature a character named Colin Firth." There were discussions of creating a version of that interview using some other figure. It didn't have to be, it could be anybody really. Bridget Jones interviews someone, a celebrity. And they toyed with versions of it. It eventually went by the wayside. It was a nice conceit.

So she lands in the pigsty instead?

That was the replacement. I became a pigsty, yes.

What was the experience of working on set with Renée?

She makes it terribly easy for everybody basically. On two fronts, is on a personal level, if you're a leading actor, you are enormously responsible for the tone on a shoot in terms of the level of peace and happiness and harmony. And the leading actor can make literally all the difference. It doesn't matter what anyone else is like. If that person's a shit, then the whole thing's just a struggle. She was actually ridiculously generous. I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen punctuality like it. I've never seen devotion to off-camera performance, which is essential. To have someone who's that talented is obviously useful to us all. It reflects well on you. It makes you raise your game. But if that very, very talented person is not giving you very much once they're off camera, their use becomes limited. She gives as much off camera as [on]. If she was crying in a scene on camera, she'd do it again off camera. She would do it for the cutaway to Uncle Bob. She'd be there no matter what, no matter how jetlagged from her trips around the world. She's incredibly busy. This sounds like a gush, but it was so astonishing to all of us that we were gobsmacked by it really. She was even off camera - this is going back four years now - but she was even off camera, after three weeks of night shoots, about five o'clock in the morning when she could have gone home, for a shot on my feet. "My feet don't need you. This is fine." "No, no, no. I'll be here. It makes a difference. It makes it real." And so that's what we're talking about. It was good-natured, involved with everybody on the unit no matter what their role was. Film is a very hierarchical environment. The pecking order is very strong. People can profit from that. In all sorts of negative ways. She made it very egalitarian. It was wonderful.

Can you discuss what you and Kevin Bacon were doing?

This is a film Where the Truth Lies. It's from a novel of that name by Rupert Holmes. It's a little hard to pitch. It's set in the U.S. and it goes from 1959 to 1974. It cuts between those two eras. It's about an entertainment duo in the '50s. We're a fictional, legendary entertainment duo and their peccadilloes and their involvement with sex, drugs, the Mafia, and how it all gets out of hand. Eventually, it leads to the death of a woman in a hotel room. And it's never resolved. It's a big mystery, and then cut to 1974 where this investigative journalist on the case trying to find out why the actors broke up and who killed this woman and were they involved. That's basically the mystery of it.

Are you the journalist?

The journalist is a woman. And I'm one of the two. Kevin Bacon and I play the act.

And how do you find Atom Egoyan?

I find him absolutely fantastic. A lot of freedom. He has a very, very strong idea of how much he wants. He doesn't over-cover things. He knows exactly how he wants to shoot it. He doesn't protect himself with endless coverage. He just knows how he wants the scene to be revealed, depends on his actors and works with them very specifically. Sometimes you have a slightly adversarial relationship with your director. And that can be a good thing. I mean, it can be a stimulating, slightly contentious relationship. Atom doesn't work like that. He does it very gently. You have enormous regard always for his intelligence. So there's always a big listening relationship. He tends to work by watching what you do, finding something that interests him, even if it's just a speck of what you've shown him, and then expanding that.

And you're working with Emma Thompson now?

Yes. It's something she wrote for children. It's called Nanny McPhee. She's the nanny. She's in it as well.

So you're the father of the kids the nanny is taking care of?

That's right.

Do you take part in the special effects or are you out of that?

No, I'm sort of out of that. I'm a makeup artist in a funeral parlor. I make up corpses.

Are you taking a break after that?

After the film? I don't know yet. It depends on how long the break will be. I might.

Will you work with Richard Curtis again?

I like Richard and I think Richard wants to strike out to new territory. So if he did call again, I'd think it'd be something different, interesting.

No more comedies?

It might end up something comical. I don't know. I little bit of a dramatist.

Hugh Grant talks about the Bridget Jones sequel

How long did it take to shoot the fight scene with Colin Firth, as opposed to your fight scene in the first movie?

It was one day about this time last year, and it was the same approach as the first one, which was just to make sure that it was as crap as we wanted it to be. The key is to stop the stunt coordinator from coming in to make it look like a film fight. We just wanted it to be two pathetic Englishmen scared of each other, throwing their handbags at each other basically.

Do you think a guy like Daniel Cleaver can change?

Can he change? No. I think short answer is that he can't. Funnily enough, I think that if he has changed, he'd change for the worse, not the better.

How did you get so good at playing A-holes? Are you ready to give them up?

Um, it's sweet of you to say that. Now, I quite like it. For years I sat in these interviews and everyone said, "You're always Mister Nice Guy, why don't you ever play someone nasty?" So in fact it's been a relief for the real me to come out more on camera. I don't have any particular burning desire to go back to being cuddly. Not really.

Is it just a coincidence that in these movies and Love Actually, your love interests are women with some extra pounds? Are you making a statement?

I remember saying to my agent that the next job I want to do, the next three jobs I do, I want them to be about slightly overweight women. And they did a wonderful job. No, I don't know what to say to you. I agree that it's nice that these stories feature that. Because you've heard this before, any man will tell you that we don't necessarily want what we see in Vogue or whatever.

Then why do you always date thin girls?

I'm very easily pleased.

What is your take on sequels and their value?

I don't think they're automatically to be despised. I've seen sequels that are [great]. The Godfather, he throws out nervously, racking his brains for another.

Maybe Lord of the Rings?

I've never seen Lord Of The Rings unfortunately, but I've heard from some children about Part 2. But, I think it's all right, I think it's all right. Don't you? You look like you're furious at the idea.

Were you eager to come back?

No, no. I was very difficult. I'm always quite difficult, but I was really impossible on this one. And there was a lot of coming and going about the script and my part. To begin with, I was not convinced that Daniel Cleaver could ever go into television, a medium he despises. But I got my head around that and did a lot of work on just sort of trying to keep the cleverness of Daniel. I always thought one of the mitigating factors for him in the first film that he wasn't just an *sshole, he was actually quite a clever *sshole. I wanted to try and maintain that. So in things like his presentations to the camera in doing The Smooth Guide, I just tried to make them relatively clever.

Speaking of The Smooth Guide, what kind of traveler are you? Do you do touristy stuff, or try to stick to the real deal?

I like a bit of both. I'm ashamed to say I was in Marrakesh earlier this year and I had a guide taking me and my father around the tourist spots and I kept saying, "No, no, no, I want to see poverty. I wanted to see people in rags, you know."

What do you do with comedy that other actors don't? What do you feel you have to offer?

I don't know what other actors do. I think in a way there is an upside to me being very difficult, and the thing I'm really difficult about is the script. I won't do it unless I think the script has got there or at the very least that my part has got there. And then even when I come to shoot it, I will try 16 different things. But it has become a form of madness, it really has, to the point of sort of meltdown. And on this film, the second day, I had a meltdown. Suddenly there was all this sort of neurosis got to me and I had my first ever full-scale attack of stage fright. It was very alarming for ever one concerned. I had to get to about take 30 before I could even remember my lines. It was the scene when Colin comes in at the end and challenges me to come out and fight him.

What makes Renée so appealing?

What's the big thing about Renée? She's just very redoubtable. I think film acting's just a miserable experience. It's so long and so boring and so difficult to get right so that what you need above all is incredible willpower and strength of mind. And she has that. I don't know where it comes from. She's definitely got that. And, big pants... they're back. You're always slightly nervous when jokes are revisited. It's one thing to revisit a film but entire jokes… but I think we've moved forward a bit.

How did she handle the sun in Thailand?

Oh Christ! She's got this thing that she believes the sun will make her skin come up in boils and peel off her bones. So she's dressed up like Julie Andrews at the beginning of The Sound Of Music, like a nun . . . umbrellas and gloves and everything. And it's a nightmare.

Did they give her a hard time there?

No, because oddly enough, she was really sensible on the subject because I think she almost felt she was being assaulted just being in Thailand, being so close to the sun. But it does make one slightly want to ask her why live in Los Angeles.

If you don't care for the process of film acting, are you ready to give it up?

Well, I haven't done very much for about three years. I think I've just done that smallish part in Love Actually and the smallish part in this film. So I'm sort of semi-retired.

Is there anything else you want to do?

I'm sure I've said to you a billion times that I keep thinking I'm about to write a brilliant script, but I've done bugger all all year. I feel ashamed of myself.

So when Richard Curtis calls, you seem to be ready to go to work.

Yeah, old friends and things and this one, that seems fine. But I'm not in a hurry to go and sit in big development meetings and make great big commercial films. I do have a touch of apathy about that.

Would you prefer stage?

Well, it's true that the stage is fun, but I can never justify it completely in my head because although I think it's really fun for the performers, my experience as an audience member is 19 times out of 20 it's purgatory to sit watching a play. I think. I don't know. People keep going more, I think, out of a sense of duty, sort of churchgoing, than out of clever.

Renée says women come up to her and share their dating stories. Do men ever come up to you like that?

No, emphatically not.