Renee Zellwegger on the red carpet for the Australian premiere of Bridget Jones:Mad About The Boy.Credit:Getty Images
Bridget Jones first blasted onto bookshelves in Helen Fielding’s 1996 literary phenomenon,Bridget Jones’s Diary,which became a global bestseller and,five years later,a blockbuster film. Released in 2001,Bridget Jones’s Diary helped Zellwegger become a household name,landing her an Academy Award nomination on the way to the film taking more than $300 million at the box office.
A product of its time,the film was initially seen as an instant addition to the pantheon of great rom-com flicks,but with time,aspects of the film have come into question.
In the post-MeToo era,the workplace relationship between Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Bridget Jones feels jarring,but Zellwegger believes things have changed.
“It’s an inevitability,isn’t it,that you look back and society evolves and people grow and learn? I think it’s interesting that Hugh’s character hasn’t changed,but now he no longer has the power. Bridget has the power and he looks like a dinosaur,” says Zellwegger. “Each piece of art is a reflection of the time in which it’s made.”
Platonic pals? Hugh Grant returns as Daniel Cleaver in the fourth and final Bridget Jones film.
For director Michael Morris,it was important to make the film feel contemporary while also true to the character’s motivations.
“We never said,‘Oh we mustn’t have her write in her diary about her weight or flirt with her boss’,because it doesn’t feel like that’s what Bridget would be doing.”