Renée wins Bridget role

Zellweger was considered to have the necessary natural wit

US actress Renée Zellweger has landed the movie role of Helen Fielding's angst-ridden literary heroine Bridget Jones.

The 29-year-old Jerry Maguire star was picked to star in the adaptation of the comedy best-seller, Bridget Jones's Diary, after an extensive two-year search, production company Working Title has confirmed.

Zellweger stole Tom Cruise's heart in Jerry Maguire

Names originally put forward for the role included Angela's Ashes actress Emily Watson, Titantic heroine Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter.

However, Texas-born Zellweger was finally chosen despite her US accent after producer Eric Fellner was bowled over by her comic talent.

He told the Daily Telegraph that Zellweger was "brings enormous character and conviction to the part".

She is now hard at work with a dialogue coach to get her English accent up to scratch.

Helena Bonham Carter was just one of the British actresses considered

Working Title is the company behind blockbusters Notting Hill and Four Weddings And A Funeral.

Richard Curtis, who wrote both hits, is teaming up with Fielding and Andrew Davies for the screenplay.

Fielding's book about the calorie-counting, relationship obsessed London career woman has been a huge international hit.

It has sold four million copies in 30 countries, and the sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason has sold nearly 500,000 since it was published in the UK in November.

Fielding's novel has been a worldwide hit

The book has spawned a slew of similar books and has added several words to the vocabulary of career-driven young adults who identify with its heroine's insecurities.

Zellweger will next be seen starring with Jim Carrey in Me, Myself & Irene, and with Morgan Freeman in Nurse Betty.