Hugh Grant has confessed to thinking Renée Zellweger’s casting as Bridget Jones was “a stretch”.
The British actor played Daniel Cleaver in the franchise, which began with Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2000.
At the time of Zellweger’s casting, many questioned whether an American should be playing the role of Helen Fielding’s British character.
Grant admits he initially felt the same, stating in a new documentary: “There was a whole scandal about why isn’t this a British actress?
“I didn’t know Renée Zellweger, and a Texan playing a British character, it did seem like a stretch.”
He was eventually won over by her performance in the comedy that grossed $281.9m (£209.8m) worldwide.
Grant says that her first attempt was “good”, but sounded like Princess Margaret, which he described as “startling”.
“She was told to kind of, well she thought she better loosen it up a bit,” he continued.
“Then she came in and it was Princess Margaret having had a stroke. But a week later it was bang on.”
Grant was speaking on new documentary Being Bridget Jones, which is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Both actors returned for sequel, The Edge of Reason, in 2004, with Zellweger reprising the role in 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby.
Grant recently said Zellweger was “one of the few actresses [he] hasn’t fallen out with" and, earlier this year, cracked a Bridget Jones joke at the Baftas after his former co-star won Best Actress for Judy.
