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Herald-Sun. May 17, 1999.AUSSIE STAR JUST RIGHT.
Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett is hotly tipped to play the lead in the film version of the best selling novel "Bridget Jones's Diary".
After failing to find a British actress to fit the bill, Working Title, the company responsible for "Four Weddings And A Funeral", is hoping to cast the Australian star of "Elizabeth" in the new role.
"There are actually not very many suitable actresses of the right age in Britain," a source involved in the project said, "Emma Thompson is too old and Kate Winslet is too young.
"The star has got to have international appeal while being a very talented actress.
"Blanchett is the right age and proved she can play an English woman superbly thanks to her performance in "Elizabeth".
"The two characters are even rather similar, in the way both convince themselves that men ae superfluous while desperate for them all the same."
The company plans to begin production in the next few months with Blanchett 29, playing the chain smoking, calorie obsessed 30-something heroine of Helen Fielding's book.
Stuart Till, president of Universal Pictures, which owns Working Title, said "Cate was brilliant as the English queen and is very, very good in David Hare's play "Plenty". She may not be English but she's an actress with an English sensibility."
"The character will still be British even if the actress isn't."
"We're not going to transport the story anywhere abroad. It will remain very true to the book."