There are only four books, but Renee Zellweger is hoping for more Bridget Jones
Too much Bridget may never be enough … Hollywood star Renee Zellweger is hopeful of more Bridget Jones movies. Problem is, there are only four books.
Confidential
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There are just four books in the Bridget Jones franchise, so this last film — Mad About The Boy — is the end.
Actor Renee Zellweger is hopeful, though, that author Helen Fielding will pen another in the series.
“I’ve got my fingers crossed that she might want to tell more of her own stories through Bridget in the future, we will see,” Zellweger told Confidential.
“I am hopeful. It would be fun.”
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy opens in cinemas this week after Zellweger and co-stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Golding flew in for the Australian premiere at Hoyts EQ on Sunday night.
It has been a decade since the last film, Bridget Jones’s Baby, and 24 years since the first instalment, Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was released in 2004.
The appeal of the character, explained Zellweger, was about “feeling seen”.
“She sort of reflects our own experiences and our humanity back at us,” she said.
“We have all been in that position where we don’t feel like we are enough, where we are making fun of ourselves, where we are so nervous or scared that it is not going to go right, that we are not loveable, that we are not enough. But she triumphs and she is optimistic and she never quits, even though things don’t quite go to plan. She doesn’t quite fit societies ideal in the moment of what beauty is supposed to be, or of what success looks like, she still triumphs, and that is inspirational.”
Zellweger is of course a two-time Academy Award winner, while Ejiofor was nominated for an Oscar for his incredible performance in 12 Years a Slave.
Woodall wasn’t intimidated by his co-stars, the trio laughing and joking their way through Confidential’s interview.
“We are very scary,” Zellweger said, Ejiofor adding: “We are terrifying people. We seem nice but oh man, it was a culture of fear … on the Bridget Jones set.”
Zellweger, 55, said she felt “spoiled rotten” to work with the cast that also included Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie, Gemma Jones and Sally Phillips.
“It was just wonderful,” she said.
“I’ve been spoiled rotten for 25 years really and these unexpected wonderful additions (Ejiofor and Woodall) … perfect, ridiculous, talented, kind of good looking, just so gifted and kind. Everybody out there has got the crush, you are right to.”
Woodall, best known previously for his work on hit TV show, The White Lotus, described the latest Bridget Jones as one “that brings a lot of joy” like “a nice big warm hug”.
Of Zellweger, the 28-year-old rising star said she was “the best person in the world”.
“Everyone on set adores her and you can just see why,” he said, Ejiofor chiming in: “Amazingly gifted, Renee is just extraordinary and so welcoming as well, and just so talented … and has just really created something for a quarter of a century with this character, which is so beloved because of what she puts into it as well.”
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