In a new teaser trailer for Judy released Friday morning, fans get a good glimpse of Renée Zellweger — as well as her angelic voice — as she portrays Judy Garland.
The clip opens with Zellweger singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while the camera pans up the Yellow Brick Road, before taking the audience far, far away from The Wizard of Oz universe and into the Swinging Sixties London.
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Directed by Rupert Goold, written by Tom Edge and adapted from Peter Quilter’s musical End of the Rainbow, the Garland biopic is set for release on Sept. 27. In addition to Zellweger, it also stars Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Finn Wittrock and Jessie Buckley.
In Judy, which is Zellweger’s first lead in a film since 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, she portrays Garland one year before her death from an accidental drug overdose at age 47, as she arrives in London to front a series of sold-out concerts between 1968 and 1969.
The studio’s official logline reads, “It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in The Wizard of Oz, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown. As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through. Even her dreams of love seem undimmed as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband. Featuring some of her best-known songs, the film celebrates the voice, the capacity for love, and the sheer pizzazz of ‘the world’s greatest entertainer.’”
Zellweger reportedly took music lessons and studied Garland’s choreography from her Talk of the Town performances while preparing for the role. She previously told PEOPLE that she spent two hours per day undergoing hair and makeup application in order to complete her transformation, which included contact lenses, wigs and elaborate costumes.
“It was such a joy learning about the magnificence of this person,” she said of preparing for the part. “I always admired her. She was so quick and so funny. She could hit the ball back with the best of them.”
Wittrock (American Horror Story) plays Mickey Deans; Gambon portrays her manager, Bernard Delfton; Sewell plays her third husband, Sid Luft, with whom she had a daughter, Lorna (Bella Ramsey; Gemma-Leah Devereux rounds out the cast as a young version of Liza Minnelli, Garland’s daughter with director Vincente Minnelli.
Judy premieres in theaters Sept. 27.
