Renée Zellweger's directorial debut They premieres at Edinburgh International Film Festival

Renee Zellweger. Pic/AFP

Actor Renée Zellweger presented her directorial debut, They, a hand-drawn and animated seven-minute short, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

In an interview with an entertainment news outlet, the Bridget Jones star shared the inspiration behind her project. "The decline of social discourse, how it seems that we all have these opinions about one another. Conversation seems to have left the building," the star, 56, said alluding to toxicity on social media.

The first-time director revealed the film has been a long-term passion project for her, and the idea for it emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"People say passion project, and that's genuinely what this is. It's just a love of the art form and how you can use it to engage in a conversation without being offensive," she said.

Zellweger also elaborated on the one-word title. "It's that clichéd reference when you want to end a conversation, or in substantiating your perspective: ‘You know how they are,' ‘You know what they say,' ‘You know what they do.' That's the reference. But obviously, in the messaging, we're all ‘they',"she added.

Zellweger has starred in many popular roles over the past decades, including the lead role in the Bridget Jones franchise, Jerry Maguire (1996) and her Oscar-winning role as Judy Garland in the biographical film Judy (2019).

Asked whether she would like to direct more films in the future, Zellweger demonstrated equal proportions of optimism and discretion. "There are always ideas brewing. It's just a matter of timing, things coming together." They premièred at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 16.

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