Zellweger playing Judy Garland

Renee Zellweger has transformed her looks and is working on her singing skills as she starts a new film about Judy Garland.

Principal photography for Judy is underway in London, and the producers have released a photo of the Academy Award winner playing the troubled star.

The movie is set in the late 1960s near the end of Garland's career and will feature the behind-the-scenes drama before Garland died in the city at age 47 in 1969.

Zellweger is expected to sing in the film, including Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Garland's 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

Zellweger sang in the 2002 film Chicago.

Other cast members include Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock and Michael Gambon.

This article was first published at nzherald.co.nz and was republished here with permission.