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Renée on Deceiver

It's taken me so long to post this article, that I completely forgot where it came from. I think it might have been from the official 'Deceiver' website. In any case, I've cut and pasted most of the article to reflect mostly Renée's character in the film.

Renee Zellweger met Peter Glatzer and the Pate Brothers at a bus stop in the snow at Sundance in 1996. They had just seen Zellweger in The Whole Wide World and were so impressed with her performance that the role of Elizabeth was written for her. Shortly thereafter, Zellweger was cast opposite Tom Cruise in the critically-hailed hit Jerry Maguire. "The rest is history," Glatzer says. Zellweger notes that returning the independent world was a refreshing shift after having starred in such a huge studio work. "This is my world," she says. "I feel a bit more comfortable in the indie world. It's all more impulsive, a little bit more wild and I guess it's a little bit more unpredictable. That appeals to me."

Zellweger found Elizabeth to be particularly appealing. "There is always a generalization made about 'the hooker' -- she's weak or a victim, either of society or her own personal situations," Zellweger explains. "But not this girl. Elizabeth has made a decision. She's very much in control. She's very intelligent and strong, and this is what she's chosen to do to get by. This is her thing. This is how she makes a living and she sees no problem with what she does. It's interesting to play a strong woman in a compromising profession."

Elizabeth is attracted to Wayland because he's not the typical john that comes into her life. "He is more interested in the conversation," Zellweger notes. "I think that's the mutual attraction between them. He's not looking for what you typically visit a prostitute for and she recognizes that in him. He wants conversation. He wants to disclose things to her and she laps it up. It makes her feel like more of a person. For him to recognize that she's intelligent is also appealing to her. And on that level they form a really nice bond.

"It's not the 'Pretty Woman' kind of a relationship," adds Roth. "It's fairly grounded and fairly real. This woman that's been killed, he's not sure if he's done it or if someone else has done it. Even the flashbacks we see could be a lie, so you're never really quite sure where the truth is."

"This movie is more about what you don't get to see than what's right there on the screen. Instead of being all out action and violence, what you usually see in thrillers, it was much more psychological, much more intellectual, and that is what's appealing to me about this project," the actress states.

Zellweger says of the character of Wayland, who provides the winding backbone of the piece: "The more you watch Wayland -- the more he says, the more he does -- the less you know about him and what drives him. That's why it's such a wonderful suspense thriller. You can't pinpoint where he's going to go. You never know what the truth is. You never know what his motives are."

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