Things You Didn’t Know About The “Bridget Jones” Films,
By The Cast Themselves
Kimberley Dadds | BuzzFeed
– September 13, 2016
It’s been 12 long years since we
last saw Bridget Jones on our screens. But the wait is finally over.
The character Renée Zellweger so expertly brought to life all the way
back in 2001 and again in 2004 is returning later this week in Bridget Jones’s Baby. The new film may be missing Hugh Grant’s
character, Daniel Cleaver, but Patrick Dempsey does a quite frankly
brilliant job at taking Grant’s place as Mark Darcy’s love rival. And
both Zellweger and Colin Firth bring their beloved characters back to life
like they’ve never been away. So we jumped at the chance to speak to the
cast – Firth, Zellweger, and Dempsey – when they were in London
promoting the film, and we made sure we got to find out some things we
particularly wanted to know about the franchise. Here’s
what we learned…
1. The funniest moment to film in Bridget
Jones’s Baby was the
(absolutely hilarious) bridge scene.
In the scene, btw, without giving away any spoilers, both Colin Firth and
Patrick Dempsey have to carry a heavily pregnant Bridget a very, very long
way. And of course much hilarity ensues. And it sounds like it was equally
funny, yet painful, to film…
Out of the many funny moments
in this film, what was the funniest to shoot?
Renée Zellweger: Crossing the bridge maybe, or getting into the hospital?
Patrick Dempsey: The bridge scene, yes. There was one particular take that went on and
on and on. We’re literally walking across the bridge and
we’re waiting for the cut.
RZ: Desperately. [laughs]
PD: And it never came. And we were like, We have to be out of the shot by
now. I think it was just [director] Sharon [Maguire] getting back at us,
wasn’t it?
CF: I remember the rising sense of panic if the camera was still rolling.
I was in absolute disbelief that I had to be in this much pain for this
long. And it’s got nothing to do with Renée, before this sounds
ungallant – it was because she was wearing something heavy. You know, we
were carrying two people.
RZ: [laughing along] It was quite heavy.
PD: It was.
2. There’s a brilliant accidental
reference to Renée’s character in Empire
Records in it. And she
didn’t even realise!
As an eagle-eyed Empire
Records fan
(who isn’t, right?!), I noticed that at one point in Bridget
Jones’s Baby, Renée walks around
completely naked, apart from an apron covering her modesty at the front
– just like she did 20 years ago in Empire
Records! But was it an intentional homage?
RZ: [looks
surprised and impressed] That was really good. That was really good!
I didn’t even make that connection! So no! [laughs]
Wow, that was really well done.
3. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant’s first fight scene in the first film was
completely unchoreographed – apart from when they were thrown through
the window, because they were told stuntmen had to do it.
Please clear this up, Colin: Did you and Hugh Grant actually get
thrown through a fake restaurant window in the first movie?
CF: Ahh, no. It was all us except for the window.
RZ: They won’t let you do the window, will they?
CF: No, they won’t let us do the window. Insurance gets all involved
with that sort of thing. Stuntmen were very little involved in that fight
and this is because Hugh and I in rehearsals rebelled against the whole
idea of a stuntman, who was there telling us how to do all this
professional stuff, and there was a lot of, you know, testosterone in the
room. And I just thought, Guys, the last fight we had was when we
were 7 in a playground and whatever fight we have now is probably going to
look exactly like that. And so we’re two very, very angry, very
frightened people wanting to hurt each other without getting hurt
ourselves… So it was unchoreographed – that was just Hugh and I
fighting like we actually would.
5. Colin tried to keep the iconic reindeer jumper from the first film but
wasn’t allowed to have it.
Has anyone kept any props or outfits from any of the films as mementos?
RZ: I’m sure. I think I have a nice box full of Bridget Jones paraphernalia.
PD: I didn’t keep anything, no!
CF: I tried to get my hands on the reindeer sweater from the first one
because I had a feeling that if the film did well that might be
remembered. But no, that was whisked off. And I think auctioned for a good
cause or something.
RZ: Oh, that’s nice.
CF: I think I might have kept one of those rather cardboard suits from the
first one. There
wasn’t much… One should!
6. They wouldn’t change anything about what’s happened to their
characters – well, except this for Colin:
What would you change about your characters if you could?
RZ: I
think they’d be less interesting if we changed them.
CF: [thinking
face] I’d make Mark Darcy quite a lot younger.
[Renée
and Patrick burst out laughing]
7. Renée’s most embarrassing moment out of all the Bridget films
(and there have been many!) was walking down the streets in her pants when
it was open to the public.
Out of all the embarrassing things you’ve had to do during filming of Bridget,
what was the most
embarrassing?
RZ: That’s
a good question! [thinks] Maybe running
down the road in pants without the street being closed and the buses going
by full of people… And then there’s a red light and so they stop and
you’re just standing in the road in your pants.
8. And there ~could~ be another movie! If there’s enough demand.
Can we expect to see any more Bridget films?
RZ: Maybe. Maybe, yeah.
CF: I think if people want it there will be one.
Patrick, would you sign up again if there was another?
PD: I had a great time, yes! I think there’s a lot still to explore,
dealing with the baby and what that brings and how that affects Bridget
and how it affects the gentlemen in her life… And maybe the return of someone else.