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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Brogan-Leigh Hurst

Renee Zellweger is unrecognisable as she morphs into convicted killer for TV series

Renee Zellweger looked nothing like herself as she transformed into serial killer Pam Hupp for an upcoming NBC series.

The actress, 52, takes on her latest heavyweight role in TV true crime drama - The Thing About Pam - in New Orleans.

The crime drama will detail the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria, whose husband Russ was initially wrongly convicted for the killing.

After he was exonerated, Hupp became implicated in the murder and she was charged with first-degree murder in July last year.

Betsy’s husband Russell was originally accused of the murder, but he was released from prison and awarded more than £1 million in compensation. It’s thought that Pam framed him for the crime.

Renee pictured as Pam Hupp in the NBC series (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

In the new series - which is set to air next month - her face was transformed by prosthetics to give her a larger jaw and bigger nose, and her hair was styled into a bright blonde bob.

The Texan-born star of Chicago, Cold Mountain and Jerry Maguire, who gained two stone to play Bridget Jones in the early 2000s, has previously said she doesn't want to change her shape for a role again.

“My body is whacked,” she admitted, after years of yo-yo dieting, and rapid loss and gain.

She looks worlds apart from her Bridget Jones character (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

“I had a panic attack with all the specialists talking about how bad this is for you, long term, putting on that much weight in short periods of time and they're all saying, 'You must stop or you’re going to die'."

In the series, Renee wears a controversial fat suit instead.

But the decision to put a slim actress in to a fat suit, rather than cast a fuller-figured actor in the role, has drawn criticism.

Renee plays the convicted killer (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

TV presenter Vanessa Feltz said: “Renee is a good actress and I’ve got nothing against her personally, but for heaven’s sake, why can’t a plus-sized actress be hired to play a plus-sized character? It’s like we’re stuck in the dark ages."

She continued: "This has got to stop — it is really insulting to everyone. It is the equivalent of putting on dark make-up and pretending to be a person of colour in the theatre.

"People think, and quite rightly too, this is an absolutely dreadful thing to do, so why don’t we feel the same when someone wears a fat suit?

"These days there would be a huge public outcry if you did anything but hire a Chinese actor to play a Chinese role and the same for a black actor for a black role, or a Jewish person for a Jewish role," she added.

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