Overview
You don't play a character for almost 25 years if you're not fond of them. Renée Zellweger was nominated for her first Academy Award for portraying Bridget Jones — stepping into her shoes, slipping into her skirt and seesawing between her feuding romantic options, too — in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary. Thanks to 2004's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, 2016's Bridget Jones Baby and now 2025's Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, she's returned to the part three times since. "Personally, I couldn't be luckier," Zellweger tells Concrete Playground about her time in the role over more than two decades, a stint that's seen the films take Bridget from a single thirtysomething scribbling her yearning for love in her journal to a widowed single mother in her 50s.
The franchise's namesake was initially born in text, in an anonymous London newspaper column penned by Helen Fielding. Then, the author took the unlucky-in-love figure to bookshelves. Bridget now feels equally as tied to Zellweger, though, even if the Cold Mountain and Judy Oscar-winner herself sends the credit for the character's success Fielding's way. "It's a testament to Helen's talent, really, and what she's mined in these characters and these experiences that are universally relatable," she advises.
Although all things Bridget Jones struck a chord on the page before lighting up the screen, in cinema the series has achieved a rare feat. Film franchises about everyday women aren't common — let alone a film franchise about an everyday woman who is permitted to go where life takes her over more than two decades, delights, dramas, joys, chaos and all, and who has been allowed to age from her 30s to her 50s over that time. Across its first three flicks alone, before Mad About the Boy reached picture palaces — including Down Under from Thursday, February 13 — the saga has earned over three-quarters of a billion dollars.
In Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget's potential solutions to her singledom were her womanising boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, Heretic) and buttoned-up barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, Lockerbie) — and, although the picture ended with her happily in the latter's arms, The Edge of Reason repeated the same love triangle. Daniel was lost, presumed dead, in Bridget Jones Baby, so American entrepreneur Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey, Dexter: Original Sin) battled with Mark for her affections, and to discover who had fathered her child. In what's being presented as the franchise's final entry, and is certainly its most moving even while remaining delightfully funny, Daniel is back and firmly now a trusted friend, which Bridget needs after Mark's passing. As Mad About the Boy's love interests, then, enter Chiwetel Ejiofor (Venom: The Last Dance) as Mr Wallaker and Leo Woodall (Prime Target) as Roxster.
As calm as Bridget is usually chaotic, Mr Wallaker is a teacher at the school attended by her children Billy (Casper Knopf, Rough Diamonds) and Mabel (debutant Mila Jankovic) — and, like the man that's so deeply mourned throughout the movie, his bond with everyone's favourite British rom-com heroine takes time to kick in. Twenty-nine-year-old park ranger Roxster first meets Bridget in Mr Wallaker's company, after she gets herself stuck in a tree trying to get her kids out of it.
With Ejiofor and Woodall in the parts, the fourth Bridget Jones flick has enlisted more fans. "I'd always loved the films and so it was really lovely to be asked to join," Ejiofor explains. Of course, courtesy of Love Actually, the 12 Years a Slave BAFTA-winner and Oscar-nominee — and star of everything from Dirty Pretty Things, Kinky Boots and Children of Men to the Doctor Strange movies, The Old Guard and the TV version of The Man Who Fell to Earth — already had a widely loved English romantic comedy on his resume. "It's a tremendous gift to get to join this party," notes Woodall, who finds himself in his third big-name project in three years with an already-existing fanbase. No one will ever forget his turn in the second season of The White Lotus; then came his engaging performance in the television adaptation of One Day.
We also chatted with Zellweger about one of the key aspects of returning to play Bridget again and again and again: that she's the same person in each film but also not, because we all change as our lives change and we get older. Ejiofor told us about portraying a character with parallels to Mark, too, and Woodall about his run of standout roles in well-known small- and big-screen series.
On How Zellweger Is Playing the Same Character Each Time That She Steps Into Bridget's Shoes — But She's Also Not, Because Bridget Changes as Her Life Changes
Renée: "I love that you say that. That's a big part of the experience — it feels like a familiar reunion, and then at the same time it's a rediscovery, to try to figure out how what life has thrown at her in the interim manifests. I love that you mentioned that.
And especially at this stage in in life — I think that this film is tonally and stylistically a bit of a departure from the other three, and it's looking at some really meaningful milestones that a person in where we meet Bridget now is going through.
So I love that you mentioned that; of course she's different. But part of the fun was also figuring out how she hasn't changed."
On What Excited Ejiofor and Woodall About Joining the Franchise — and Playing New Romantic Interests for Bridget
Leo: "There wasn't much that wasn't exciting. It's a tremendous gift to get to join this party and I had nothing but joy coming into this.
Well, I had nerves, but they kind of started to go away once I'd met Renée and Chiwetel, and started becoming part of the family. It was lovely."
Chiwetel: "I felt exactly the same way. It was a really exciting thing. I'd always loved the films and so it was really lovely to be asked to join it. And, you know, a little intimidating, but really just an embracing experience, I think, which is led by Renée — as Leo says.
And you feel very comfortable very quickly within the environment of it all. It's a wonderful part as well. Just reading the script, it was so emotional and funny, and this great part to play. So what was not to like, really?"
On What It Means to Zellweger to Lead a Rare Franchise That's Not Only About an Everyday Woman, But Has Followed Bridget Through Her 30s, 40s and 50s — to Box-Office Success
Renée: "Wow, I guess I don't really look at it from that perspective. It's really special and it's a testament to Helen's talent, really, and what she's mined in these characters and these experiences that are universally relatable.
It's just for me personally, it's a blessing. It changed my life creatively — and look at the people that I get to work with. Personally, I couldn't be luckier.
Anywhere I go in the world, I meet strangers and we laugh together immediately because they want to share their own Bridget Jones experiences, and why their friends call them Bridget Jones. And what a beautiful thing that we have this thing in common immediately — and it's vulnerability and it's our humanity, and I think that's just so special."
On Ejiofor's Sense of Responsibility Playing a Character with Parallels to Mark Darcy – But Never Trying to Replace Mark Darcy
Chiwetel: "Mark Darcy is such an iconic character and a completely irreplaceable character, and Colin's work on it is so special that you would be, I think, nuts to even try to sort of step into the shoes in any way.
I think the only real thing you could do is try to understand the character as an individual — and, I suppose, represent how Bridget is in a different place in her life and has completely different challenges.
Mr Wallaker fits into those challenges in a really complex and interesting way, especially surrounding the dynamics that they have as a family — and Mr Wallaker as an educator, and therefore his relationship and what he brings to, especially Billy, Bridget's son, in terms of what they faced and what they've been through, and how he feels he can help in some way.
So he's a really interesting character with this very individual arc, I think, from very buttoned-up to somebody with a few more interesting layers to that.
But I think he's quite distinct, as I think Roxster is as well. They're distinct from the other characters, and I think that's what's really special about this. I think all the parts, and all of the parts through all of the films, have been so brilliant and so individually realised. And so it was really wonderful to be part of that."
On How Woodall's Experiences on The White Lotus Season Two and One Day Helped Him to Step Into Another Project with an Existing Fanbase
Leo: "It's a good question. I'm sure it did, partly subconsciously and consciously, I think.
There's always — always — pressure when you start a new job. I am always the most nervous for day one, when you have no idea who you're going to be working with really, and how well you're going to do or how badly you'll do.
So I just approach it as much as I can with the same attitude of just being open and wanting to do well, and to be nice and good to work with.
I think one thing that's nice about an already-established fanbase is that everyone wants the thing to fulfil what they are expecting and what they're hoping for. So I think it kind of makes it a bit easier."
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, February 13, 2025.