Everything We Know About The Third ‘Bridget Jones’ Movie So Far
When Bridget Jones’ Diary was released in 2001, it did a great many things. It made ugly Christmas sweaters cool again, it made Renee Zellweger a star, and made girls everywhere realize that there was someone out there who would like them, just as they are. And when Helen Fielding’s second book in the series, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released three years later, we were still shamefully left kvelling over the bad boy, Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver.
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But as many projects in Hollywood are prone to do, a third film has yet to make it off the ground. What gives? What’s the ish? Who’s the hold out? Here’s what we know:
Hugh Grant will not reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver.
It’s sad, but true. And while Grant was officially born solely to play this role, it seems he can’t muster the confidence to play Cleaver’s sexy, charming publisher for a third time. “I decided not to do it,” he explained in an interview with Britain’s Free Radio. “But I think they’re going to go ahead and do it without Daniel. The book’s excellent, by the way, but the script is completely different–well, the script as I last saw it a few years ago.”
He’s referring to the year 2012, when he told The Telegraph that the script needed more work. “We’re all up for it, as a cast, and the basic premise is fantastic,” he says. “We just need to polish up the scripts.” This led to further stalls and a hilarious quip from Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth: “You might be seeing Bridget Jones’s granddaughter’s story being told by the time we get there.”
The third film’s original concept is not the same as its corresponding book.
The book, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, was released in October 2013 to much fanfare because (SPOILER ALERT!!) it picks up when Bridget is a 51-year-old widowed mother of two. That’s right—RIP Mr. Darcy. The third film however, was well into pre-production in 2012 when problems began to arise, and was based on an original concept by Fielding called “Bridget Jones’ Baby.”
Without Grant, some fear Zellweger’s star power isn’t enough to carry the film on it’s own.
When Bridget Jones’ Diary was first released in 2001, Zellweger was at the top of her game. She was A-List status and went on to get an Oscar nomination for her role in “Chicago” in 2002, and win the Academy Award in 2003 for her role in “Cold Mountain.” But as the decade wore on, her star began to wane and—aside from a Keanu Reeves’ project set for release in 2015—she hasn’t stepped on a set since 2010.
Emma Thompson is taking a stab at the new script.
Yes, that Emma Thompson. The actress has been hired to rework the script (which may be either Mad About The Boy or Baby) from original screenwriters Fielding and David Nicholls. Nicholls, you might remember, adapted his own novel One Day for the screen. Since the script is clearly the issue at hand, hopefully good ol’ Emma can work her magic.
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Only time will tell if Bridget can make it to the big screen for a third time—but something tells us she’ll pull through.
