Liza Minnelli doesn’t ‘approve’ of Zellweger playing her late mother

There’s one person who won’t be eager to see the forthcoming biopic on Judy Garland — her daughter, Liza Minnelli.

Minnelli recently slammed a report posted on entertainment and gossip website Radar Online that claimed Minnelli was in favour of the upcoming biopic, titled Judy. The actress criticised the project on Facebook, describing rumours that she was bonding with lead star Renée Zellweger as “100 per cent fiction”.

“I have never met nor spoken to Renée Zellweger,” Minnelli wrote on Facebook. “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% per cent Fiction.”

Judy will be set in the winter of 1968, when Garland arrived in London to perform a sell-out run of concerts at the Talk of the Town nightclub, and centres around her breathtaking performances and her troubled private life. The film also touches on her romance with Mickey Deans, the man who would become her fifth and final husband.

Read more: Renee Zellweger’s incredible Judy Garland transformation

In March, the studio behind the film released a sneak peek at Zellweger’s transformation for the role.

In a photo shared to Twitter, Zellweger, 48, has ditched her blonde waves for Garland’s classic short, brown locks. She holds a microphone to her face and her exposed shoulders show her small and fragile frame–similar to Garland’s toward the end of her days.

#JUDY starts principal photography in London today, starring Academy Award winner, Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland!#judygarland #reneezellweger #london #thetalkofthetown #jessiebuckley #finnwittrock #michaelgambon #rupertgoold #pathe #calamityfilms #bbcfilms #ingenious pic.twitter.com/VJAnMRuzKV

— Judy (@JudyGarlandFilm) March 19, 2018

The stunning photo is just a taste of what audiences are in for when the movie hits the big screen later this year. 

Garland’s life was one of soaring highs and heartbreaking lows as she struggled with drug and alcohol addiction while giving the world hits like ‘Get Happy’, ‘The Trolley Song’ and ‘Over the Rainbow’.

Her Talk of the Town performances were some of the last she ever gave before her death at age 47. Deans found Garland’s lifeless body in the bathroom of their rented London home just six months after she arrived in London. An official investigation into her death confirmed she accidentally overdosed on barbiturates, a prescription drug for anxiety and insomnia.

Along with Zellweger, the film will star The Tudors’ Gemma-Leah Devereux as Garland’s daughter, Liza Minelli. English actor Rufus Sewell will play Garland’s third husband Sidney Luft, while Finn Wittrock, takes on the role of Deans.

The film does not yet have a release date. 

What do you think? Are you a fan of Liza Minnelli? Are you excited for this film?