UNITED KINGDOM: London's Leicester Square turns Victorian for world premiere of "MIss Potter"

Hollywood star Renee Zellweger braved the cold London weather on Sunday (December 3) and attended the world premiere of her new film 'Miss Potter'. The actress was joined by co-stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson. Set in London and the Lake District, Miss Potter is a love story inspired by the life of Beatrix Potter, the most successful classic children's author of all time. The movie follows the development of her early career and views on the world as she opens her eyes to the true nature of her relationship with her publisher Norman Warne. Most people grew up with the stories and Ewan McGregor was no exception: "I read it, I had it read to me when I was a kid and of course being Mr McGregor...Peter Rabbit, Mr McGregor kills Peter Rabbit's father which no one in my family would ever do," he said. "I think children all love animals and they love animals with characters but also they're slightly cool and ironic as well, they're not kind of slushy and sentimental , they're pretty cool characters," said Emily Watson who stars as Norman Warne's sister. Zellweger and director Chris Noonan were both happy to bring Beatrix Potter's personal life to the limelight. Whilst her characters such as Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck are well known, very little is know about the writer herself -- and 'Miss Potter' will hopefully change that. "Yes I'd read the stories definitely, I didn't know anything to be honest, most people don't know so much about her, she seems like she's a character in herself, like Brothers Grimm or Mother Goose or something. We spoke to the ladies of the Warner Company who are now responsible for marketing and for taking care of her estate and her legacy, they talked about that , that they were excited that this film was happening because people don't really connect to the person who's behind this creative genius and telling the story, it was an opportunity to show it and me to learn about it so that's nice," said Zellweger. "She has a huge following around the world, she has an incredible following in Japan for some reason and in America they love her books and so on, so she's very well known , but no one knows anything about her so that's what we're hoping to redress with this film," said Noonan. The film opens on January 5.

ITN Source | December 7, 2006

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