Bridget Jones's Baby: Everything you need to know
Bridget Jones's Baby is the 2016 film that everyone's talking about but who's in it, what's going to happen and who will end up with dear old Bridget? We look at everything we know about the third movie.
And if you want to see what Renee Zellweger looks like when she's not on set, check out her best beauty looks
Picture Editing: Sandra Waibl
TwitterFirst up, this is Bridget Jones for the 21st century, so of course she has an iPad rather than a diary.
The director for the movie is Sharon Maguire, who worked on the first movie. In fact, after Bridget Jones’s Diary wrapped, Maguire moved to Los Angeles to work and, as it turns out, become a mother. It was upon returning to London in 2014 that the producers approached her. “I was scared, but also curious as I wanted to see what had happened to all the characters 11 years on,” says the director. “I wanted to know whether their fantasies had come true. It felt strange for me to read it because I had to go back 15 years to my life and look at my own fantasies and whether they had come true.”
Here is the official film poster for the new Bridget Jones’s Baby and it features Renée Zellweger holding up her fave holding-in pants. The caption reads: "We're going to need bigger pants".
Rex FeaturesBridget Jones's Baby movie is based on Helen Fielding’s columns for The Independent, written in 2005, rather than the third novel she wrote about the heroine. This is very fortunate as Mad About The Boy sees Colin Firth’s character Mark Darcy killed off, leaving Bridget as a single mum (sob).
KP Pictures/Splash NewsThere is some sad news though; we won’t be seeing Daniel Cleaver’s mischievous smile anymore - Hugh Grant confirmed pretty early on that he’s not returning to the film franchise. But we’ve got Patrick Dempsey instead! The Grey’s Anatomy star will play one of Bridget’s new love interests.
According to Debra Hayward, the movie's producer: “Patrick was the choice very early on, because he’s a credible alternative. He’s the right age, devastatingly handsome and he’s American, all of which rings the changes from Daniel. We wanted it to be someone different but somebody equally gorgeous, and he’s a great actor. He’s an American equivalent to Colin.”
Getty ImagesBridget Jones’s Baby will be our first chance to see Ed Sheeran on the big screen.
Ed's scenes were shot live on stage at Croke Park in Dublin, which would be cut into the film alongside scenes from Bestival and a practical shoot. He also features on the movie soundtrack - but of course.
Getty ImagesAs you’d expect from any film involving Richard Curtis, Bridget Jones’s Baby shows off England at its most picturesque. Filming locations include Borough Market (that’s where Bridge lives obvs), Windsor and Oxfordshire.
Since Bridget’s debut, Borough Market has become a destination for fans paying homage to our heroine. In fact, despite the changes to the market since 2001, her home remains intact, even down to the same colour of its blue door. “One of the iconic images was Bridget’s flat above the pub,” says Hayward. “It represents old, Georgian London. When we made the first film, Borough Market was not a great area. Cut to 15 years later and the pub is still there, but the area has immeasurably improved. Right behind it is the Shard, which wasn’t there five years ago. That became quite symbolic of the film...that it contained both the old and the new London, the old and the new Bridget.”
WennAs well as Bridget Jones's Diary creator Helen Fielding, you might recognise another famous face on the writing credits: actress Emma Thompson.
Whilst Fielding was very involved with the development, owing to her increasing commitments, she agreed to have another writer join the project. “Originally this was developed with Helen, and then writer Dan Mazer,” explains Debra Hayward, the Producer. “With Helen’s approval, we brought Emma Thompson on board.”
We were looking for a writer to come on board and help us with the screenplay, and she seemed a natural choice. She did an incredible job, and in the process she built up a character called Dr Rawlings. We then turned it around and told her she’d made that character, she now needed to play her. She did so brilliantly.”
The big storyline centres around a pregnant Bridget Jones - but who is the baby daddy? Is it Mark Darcy or is it her new suitor – handsome billionaire played by Patrick Dempsey?
Patrick said: “Darcy’s the quintessential English one, and Jack is the quintessential American. It’s been fun trying to find that. How we make these characters sympathetic, vulnerable, but yet strong at the same time, and what their wants and aspirations are for Bridget and for the baby. While the other characters are much more established, for Jack it’s been a case of finding that out as we go along.”
Rex FeaturesCostume designer Steven Noble first collaborated with Zellweger and Maguire on Bridget Jones’s Diary as an assistant costumer. Having helped to create the original on-screen look, there was synergy in bringing him back to dress a more mature Bridget.
“I started off by doing a timeline of both films. We put the iconic looks of Bridget from the two previous films together on a storyboard, so I had an essence of the character,” offers the designer. “We then set about making her a bit chicer, a little more ‘put together’, although as the story unravels, she slightly loses it.”
RexTalking about this look, Steven Noble said: “Firstly there’s the opening dress, which is the memorial dress. We didn’t want it to look too heavy and too memorial looking. I had a Spanish widow in my head, which is where the lace comes from. It’s the first time we see Bridget after all these years, and whilst it’s such a beautiful dress, it’s slightly inappropriate because there’s too much cleavage showing for a memorial, which is yet another Bridget faux pas."
KP Pictures/Splash NewsThe cast filmed three different endings, and no one knows if Mark Darcy or Jack is the dad.
"They kept us guessing, yeah," Zellweger confessed. "Because you never know people with cell phones and talking, and I might slip up and tell my mom, 'Oh you know when she ends up with ...'"
WennThis movie isn’t just about the men in Bridget’s life: all three of her friends are returning to the project too. And, yes, they are still dishing out terrible love life advice. But they won't be in the movie as much as usual - ah, the perils of life - and there will be new friends to keep Bridget occupied.
For Zellweger much of the joy of returning to the world of Bridget was in revisiting not only Bridget herself, but the characters around her. “I wanted to know what happened to all of her friends and what Mum and Dad are doing, as well as where Bridget would be at this time in her life.”
EllenTube/MiramaxWith the release of the Bridget Jones's Baby trailer (which you can watch here) we now know some key plot secrets - and she finally gets to wear a white dress...
When Renée visited Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show she couldn't give anything away about the movie, but did rave about the "lovely" Patrick Demspey and said that "it's fun" to have him joining the cast.
Patrick confirmed: “I’m the new kid on the block. I was very nervous because they’ve had all this experience together and have a dialogue and a relationship that works well. That’s what Jack brings into this dynamic; he’s stirring it all up in many ways.”
When audiences first met Bridget she was 32-years-old, and in Edge of Reason, she was 34. In Bridget Jones’s Baby, she celebrates her 43rd birthday. When the producers brought Sharon Maguire onto the project, one of the things that was important for the director was that the story reflect what happens to adults in these key transitional years, both emotionally and professionally.
Bridget still looks like she's up for a little fun... One of the best scenes from the movie is when Bridget goes to a festival.
According to the Production Notes about the movie, the festival represents a moment in the story where Bridget is taken completely out of her comfort zone. Thinking she’s off for a weekend in the country at a boutique hotel, she is shocked when she arrives at a muddy, crowded, sensory assaulting festival.
