'Being in a Film with the Girlfriend of Justin Timberlake Is Just About As Cool As You Can Get' ; Shrek 2: Interview: Jennifer Saunders Is One of Britain's Most Talented Comic Actresses. In a Rare Interview, She Reveals Why the Part of an Animated Fairy Godmother Was Her Toughest Challenge Yet

Summary

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It's not the most obvious connection to make, but the prospect of Jennifer Saunders appearing in Shrek 2 meant just one thing to her three daughters: Justin Timberlake. 'This is definitely the project that has made me go up in the estimation of my children,' says Saunders with a sardonic half-grin. 'Not because it's the chance to be part of one of the best animated films ever, or because it's the start of a major Hollywood career for their mother. No. It's the fact that I'm going to be in a film that also stars Cameron Diaz, who is the girlfriend of Justin Timberlake, and it might possibly mean that Cameron will invite Justin to the British premiere and my children will come with me, so they are clearly, absolutely definitely going to get to meet him. And that is just about as cool as you can get.' She leans back and adds, with one eyebrow raised: 'I have, of course, pointed out that Cameron may not be bringing him to the premiere because he may be busy touring, singing or just generally being Justin Timberlake.

That is a small fly in the ointment, but still they are all clinging like limpets to the chance that it may happen.' We are sitting in the aqua-blue office of Saunders's office at BBC Television Centre, west London. As production offices go, it is not, in any way, terrifying or grand. It is smaller than you would imagine and rather invitingly haphazard and messy, with yellow Post- it notes stuck everywhere, magazines, sandwich wrappers and a selection of biographies from Madonna to Dylan Thomas, and Dorothy Wordsworth to Samuel Beckett, spilling from various metal shelves.

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'Being in a Film with the Girlfriend of Justin Timberlake Is Just About As Cool As You Can Get' ; Shrek 2: Interview: Jennifer Saunders Is One of Britain's Most Talented Comic Actresses. In a Rare Interview, She Reveals Why the Part of an Animated Fairy Godmother Was Her Toughest Challenge Yet

Saunders herself is also much smaller and less intimidating than you would expect. Dressed in jeans and a blue denim jacket, her blonde hair is sticking out at all angles because she is, it transpires, a woman under pressure.

There are fewer than three weeks before filming starts on an upcoming series of French Saunders, and clearly several deadlines have been and gone already. The show's producer, Jo Sargent, is by Saunders's disorderly desk telling her very nicely, but very fi...

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