-I haven't been able to congratulate you
on winning your Academy Award for "Judy," by the way.
[ Cheers and applause ] You were unbelievable
playing Judy Garland.
You were phenomenal in that as well.
What do you remember about winning the Oscar?
Do you get excited for these awards?
-You know -- Well, yeah.
I mean, of course, it's kind of like you think
it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
You want to pay attention and I always try to, you know --
I want to be grounded when I go in.
I just want to get in touch with my family,
talk to my mom, dad, my brother. -That's good.
-Do things that keep you grounded before you go into it.
-Don't get too big-headed going in.
-You know, keep your feet on the ground
and just kind of enjoy the moment.
So I have a couple rituals and things that I like to do
before I go -- I like to walk.
I don't like to get in the car, you know, the long limo ride.
-So you don't take a limousine there?
-Unh-unh, no, no, no, 'cause I don't like getting out
and it's all crazy and people screaming and stuff.
So I sneak in. [ Laughter ]
-You walk to the Oscars? -I walk to the Oscars.
-That's the greatest thing I ever heard.
-I sneak in, 'cause you know all the people come out,
and they stand and they're looking at the red carpet,
so I come in behind all the people.
[ Laughter ] -Wow!
-Yeah, I sneak in behind all those -- So, this time,
the only hotel room that was available
was a half a mile away. [ Laughter ]
-You walked a half a mile to the Oscars?
-I did. In shoes taller than this.
And I don't recommend it.
But it is a good exercise for keeping you grounded.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
You're like, "Why did I start this tradition?"
-Yeah, and it was raining that night,
so I was extra grounded when I got there.
-Oh, my gosh. You were really grounded.
-The girls know what I'm talking about.
You know, you do your hair and then you're like, "Ohh."
[ Laughter ]
-Did you get to party afterwards?
-Do you know what? Yeah, I did.
I went back to the hotel and had a little private dance party
with my really good friends who filled the room with balloons,
and we ordered cheeseburgers, as you do.
And then we went to my pal Guy Oseary's house.
I've known him for -- You know Guy, right?
-I love Guy Oseary. -Guy Oseary, yeah.
He's a music manager, but when I met him,
he was 17 years old and he was interning at Maverick.
-Yes. -And every year now he hosts
this after party that, if you can believe it,
begins at 1:00 in the morning.
And you take your shoes off, and nobody takes pictures.
And he just turns the music up the really loudly,
and you just dance in the living room.
-That's exactly how you do it. -Yeah, right?
-That's what you're supposed to do and have fun.
-In that dress. Yeah, no shoes.
Every year he does something fun.
One year, he had this photo booth that you go into,
and it takes pictures, and then you get this book.
It's kind of like an animation where you flip it --
the flip book, you know? -Yeah.
-Yeah, so you make this flip book from the photographs.
And last year he had this photographer --
or two years ago now, my goodness --
he had a photographer named J.R.
He takes a picture of you, then he takes a picture of you
with the picture -- life-size picture.
Really cool. The cooler part was, though,
that Snoop Dogg was in the back.
[ Laughter ]
-It's always a fun party when Snoop Dogg's there, yeah.
-It's fun when Snoop Dogg's anywhere.
-Yeah, exactly. I agree.
-Yeah, so, he asked if we could take a picture together.
Come on! -You brought it to show tonight.
Here's you and Snoop Dogg.
Look at -- Not too shabby.
I like that. -Come on!
[ Cheers and applause ] -I would go see that movie.
-Come on! -I would watch this movie.
-Right? -Yeah.
-I mean, right? So, you go, you're like,
"It's Oscar night," but then it's, like, Snoop Dogg.
-Yeah, that was a Snoop Dogg night.
-A great night. It was a great night.
-Did you stay grounded when you were also nominated
for a Grammy Award, by the way, pal?
Congratulations! -Oh, that was crazy.
-I mean, come on. -Thanks. Thank you.
-Did you ever imagine in your life, you go, "Oh, my gosh."
-No, not a chance. You know, not a chance.
Yeah, no, no, no.
And with Harry Connick, my buddy.
And Rufus Wainwright, who we actually did a duet.
We did "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
on the "Judy" record.
-You must have seen when Rufus did "Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!"
That concert? -Oh, come on, I mean.
-No, exactly, of course, I mean, yeah.
-He's extraordinary.
-It was his tribute to "Judy, Judy, Judy,"
and who you just knocked it out of the park with.
-Thanks, Jimmy. -But do you get intimidated when
you get in there with Rufus Wainwright to sing?
-Oh, gosh, yeah, you just got to pretend really hard
that you're doing okay, you know?
-Yeah, I guess that's what acting is. Yeah, I guess.
-Yeah, some of the best performances in life
happen behind the scenes. -Yeah.
-No, that was really emotional for me 'cause I have loved him.
I mean, I've been singing duets with him for 20 years
in Laurel Canyon, in my car. -Yes, on the speakers, yeah.
In real life, you're like, "Oh, my gosh."
-Yeah, it was a big deal. Big deal for me.
-We're all excited here, not just because it's NBC,
but it is NBC tomorrow at 10:00 p.m., "The Thing About Pam."
It is getting crazy-good reviews, crazy-good buzz.
One reporter was like, "Just give her the Emmy right now.
If this world has any sense to it, please just give it to her.
Renée Zellweger knocks it out of the park."
"The Thing About Pam" -- I love true crime.
My wife loves true crime.
We watch "Dateline."
I try to make sure I don't watch it right before I go to bed.
-Right, right, right. [ Laughter ]
But inevitably, you do. -You do.
You do, and I have pretty awesome nightmares.
[ Laughter ]
But I didn't know about this podcast.
-Mm-hmm. -When you first heard --
You got attached when it was just a podcast?
-Yeah, yeah, it was one of
the most popular "Dateline" episodes ever.
I missed that one.
But then, my partner, Carmella Casinelli,
at the Big Picture Co., sent me the podcast.
And I listened to it on the 5 freeway when I was
taking Chester, the rescue shepherd,
up to get his hip replaced. -Aww.
-Yeah, and that was between the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
-Really keeping you grounded. -It's the best.
-How's Chester? Is he okay? -He's rocking.
Yeah, he's got his bionic hip, and he's so cool.
-That's awesome. -He's so cool.
But, yeah, so, I listened to it. I binged it.
And I thought, "Man, that's so crazy."
You just got started asking yourself, "How, how, how?"
There's so much evidence pointing away from
this woman's husband, who was actually convicted of murder.
It's based on -- Well, the podcast revolves around
the story of Betsy Faria,
the case of Betsy Faria's murder in 2011.
And her husband was convicted and later exonerated.
-And you play Pam?
-I play Betsy's friend, Pam, Pam Hupp, mm-hmm.
-Yeah, and you go, "Yeah."
And then you go, "It's the husband."
It's like all these great true crimes where you're like,
"Oh, the husband did it." -Yeah, "he did it." Yeah.
-It's insurance, that's what it is.
Though what's even amazing?
You got Keith Morrison from "Dateline" to narrate the show.
Double whammy.
I'm like, "What?!"
Any super nerd is going to freak out,
'cause I love Keith Morrison. -Love Keith Morrison.
-Once I hear his voice I go, "Oh, my God. No, no, no."
-See, that's the fun thing. You start sitting there,
you're like, "Hmm, I'm going to call Rufus Wainwright."
-No, yeah, you get Keith Morrison, why not?
But you are unrecognizable in this.
You have an accent -- a Missouri accent?
-Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
It's sort of ephemeral because she moved around a lot.
It was very specific to her, so, you know --
-And you had crazy prosthetics, amazing job.
Who did the prosthetics? -His name is Arian Titan, yeah.
Arian -- he's a genius. He does the cast,
and then he hand-paints everyone down to the last freckle.
-And how long are you in prosthetic for?
-Well, we started at about 4 hours and 20 or 30 minutes,
and he whittled it down to under 3, like 2 1/2,
by the time, you know, you get in the swing of things.
-Just four hours just getting into makeup?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Then you have to act?
-Yeah. -No, no, no.
[ Laughter ] That's why you do what you do.
-No, it's great.
You can call your mom in the chair,
you get your e-mails done, Christmas shopping.
[ Laughter ] -You got it all done, yeah.
Is there a learning curve to acting in prosthetics?
-Well, I didn't know that it's a whole different skill
that I didn't know I didn't have.
[ Laughter ]
And I really didn't have it.
I really didn't.
By the time you get it on, you're so excited,
and you stand there and then you go,
"Oh, wait, I think I'm allergic to this."
[ Laughter ]
-You were allergic to prosthetics?
-I was so allergic to the adhesive.
It was hilarious.
Y'all, lots of Benadryl. Lots of Benadryl.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
Benadryl knocks me out, man.
Oh, my God, no way.
And you still did that knockout performance?
I want to say more about "The Thing About Pam,"
but I can't because -- -You can't.
-It's an ongoing --
-So, Jimmy, it's the weirdest thing.
I get these interviews,
"What interested you about this story?"
And I'm like, "Um, nah-nah-nah, mm."
-Yeah, you're like, "Ooh, uh.
Kern. Kern." Exactly. [ Laughter ]
-No, wait. It's a-a-art. -Art, yeah.
Art. Yeah.
-You know, 'cause it's an ongoing case.
And, you know, it's a real person.
So I'm not allowed to sort of speculate.
Especially, you know, on television and stuff like that.
So, you get asked these questions,
and I start answering it and then I catch myself
going down the rabbit hole and I try to correct.
-Yeah, you go, "Don't stop, just stop talking."
-Yeah, you're watching yourself talking,
and you're like, "Just shut up. Just shut your mouth."
-This is so exciting. I cannot wait for this thing.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Renée Zellweger in "The Thing About Pam."
Take a look at this.
-That's how come Mariah moved in with Betsy's mom.
-Was he ever violent with Betsy?
-I was at their place a lot, and, um, he's not --
he's not the most, um...
He was kind of not nice verbally to her.
Mm.
You know the type.
Real aggressive.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Wow!
You know the type.
Renée Zellweger, everybody.
"The Thing About Pam" premieres tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. on NBC.