The Movie
The film franchise was helmed exclusively by female directors: SharonMaguire directed the first and third films in the trilogy and BeebanKidron the second.Bridget Jones’s Diary was written as a modern interpretation of the JaneAusten classic Pride and Prejudice—and guess who played Mr. Darcy in both? Firth, who was also Darcy in the 1995 BBC drama.Bridget works at Pemberley Press; Mr. Darcy’s estate in Pride and Prejudice was named Pemberley.
The Men
The famous brawl between Grant and Firth was improvised by the actors—no stuntmen involved, just two middle-aged men making a feeble attempt at violence.It took about 30 knitters to come up with just the right design for the ugly moose Christmas sweater Darcy wears when he meets Bridget.Grant, who played DanielCleaver, was initially hesitant about a Texan being cast as Bridget, admitting Zellweger’s first attempt at an English accent sounded like “Princess Margaret having had a stroke. But a week later, it was bang-on.” The two are still friends.SalmanRushdie’s cameo was a total fluke that came about when friend Helen Fielding called him up and asked, “How would you like to make a fool of yourself?”
Bridget
Zellweger gained 25 pounds for her calorie-counting, self-help-loving character, for which several other actresses—including ToniCollette, CateBlanchett, CameronDiaz, NicoleKidman, NaomiWatts, KateWinslet and CatherineZeta-Jones—were considered.All those cigarettes that Zellweger was puffing? They were herbal rather than tobacco.Dedicated to the role, Zellweger not only used Bridget’s British accent off-camera, she also worked incognito at a publishing house in London ahead of filming to research her character’s career. So convincing was her act that only one colleague caught on, asking, “Don’t you think Bridget looks just like the girl from Jerry Maguire?”Zellweger worked on her accent with BarbaraBerkery, who had helped GwynethPaltrow for Shakespeare in Love.The fictional Bridget Jones made such an impact on pop culture, in 2016 she was named one of the most influential women of the past 70 years by BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.Zellweger was 32 years old when the movie was made, just like Bridget.The scene where Bridget slides down the fire pole almost didn’t get shot for lack of time.
Next, Hugh Grant Reveals What It Was Really Like Working With Nicole Kidman in HBO’s The Undoing
