Bridget Jones fans will be pleased to know that the second movie based on Helen Fielding's literary singleton is in the can. And how do we know this? Well 'cos the movie's lead, Renee Zellweger, told us. We chatted to the Bafta-winning star at last night's awards and asked her how work was going on Bridget Jones's Diary: The Edge Of Reason?

"We actually finished filming that this morning," the petite Texan revealed. And how does she think things have gone during the shoot? "I really like it, I think it's going to be great," she gushed.

Expect the movie to reach our screens later this year.

It’s all chills and spills when hapless singleton Bridget Jones goes skiing. Renée Zellweger took to the piste in Austria to film hilarious scenes for The Edge Of Reason, the sequel to the movie
Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget tries out the snow with boyfriend Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth. But she doesn’t tell him that she can’t ski. Let’s hope he forgives her white lie.

No slope for Bridget 
(MegaStar, Feb 2, 2004, by Sid Billington)

It's not exactly cutting-edge news, but the phenomenon that is Bridget Jones makes the papers today, with actress Renée Zellweger taking to the Austrian slopes. 

Zellweger is seen in a bright pink ski suit, hilariously falling over in the Austrian resort of Lech in the Tyrol when she accidentally joins a downhill ski race. 

"The 34-year-old American, who does her own stunts, took tumble after tumble in the name of her hapless alter-ego—but still emerged with a smile for watching fans," reports an excited Daily Mirror.

Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, follows on from where the first hit film left off, with Jones and Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth pursuing their blossoming relationship while Jones gets into her usual scrapes and has a short spell in a Thai prison.

Zellweger, who recently took home a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in the Civil War epic Cold Mountain, didn't look quite so Hollywood on the European snow-covered mountains. She has reportedly piled on two stone for the role, but considering she was skin and bones before, probably means she's now a 'healthy' weight.

"Producer Jonathan Cavendish revealed the real-life roles were reversed with Renee cutting a much better figure on the slopes than Colin, who cannot ski," says the Daily Express.

Marvellous. V.sweet story even if it's a bit pointless.

Two Bridgets (Renée and her stunt double) were on the slopes on Thursday, much to the amazement of many locals who watched the filming for hours despite the -10° C. weather. In the afternoon, the cameras shifted to the village, where a sports shop had been converted to a pharmacy. No sightings of Colin yet.

Several local newspapers reported on 27 January that the large film crew has arrived and begun shooting, though the movie's two stars (Renee and Colin) are expected to arrive shortly and then only for four days in Lech. Shooting locations are kept fairly confidential and are off-limits to press and public.

From what has been leaked, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) has taken Bridget on a luxury ski holiday but she doesn't tell him that she cannot ski, which should produce some humorous scenes on the slopes.

A contributor to comingsoon.net wrote in that, "my father [vacationing in Lech am Arlberg, Austria] just told me they were shooting a scene with Renée Zellweger for Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason on the "Schlegelkopf" slope. My father only saw a shoot of a woman in a pink suit (Zellweger, or stuntwoman?) going down the slope.

"However, he was also in a ski-class with someone who was in the same hotel as a cameraman on the set. Now this guy talked to the cameraman about some plot details. Apparantly, Bridget Jones will accidently step into a wrong ski-lift, ending up in a ski-contest. In her clumsiness she accidently takes a shortcut, resulting in her winning the race. But not being able to stop, she keeps going until she skis into a bar, right into the arms of Hugh Grant.

Phutket, Thailand, Dec. 12 Renée Zellweger cracks up after getting her feet—and calves and skirt—wet while filming a scene with Hugh Grant for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the sequel to their 2001 hit comedy.
 

Hollywood descended on St James' Church, Shere, for the filming of a major British film. International stars Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth, as well as a host of British comic actors, were involved in the filming of the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary in the village on Monday.

Two hundred extras and crew bustled around the normally peaceful streets as a crowd of expectant onlookers jostled to see the celebrities. Tonnes of false snow were sprayed over the church and graveyard and throughout the morning the village experienced an early-winter blizzard. Several police officers attended the site to control the lorries that served the set and to try and contain the paparazzi photographers who were there to snap the stars.

The filming saw Bridget, played by Oscar-nominated actress Renée Zellweger, as a bridesmaid at the re-marriage of her mother and father, played by Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent. Onlookers had to stifle their laughter as they saw the actors careering along the path from the church to the Rolls Royce at its gates to the strains of the Monkees' song, I'm a Believer.

While the film company would not reveal any plot details, the Advertiser understands that the scene is part of a dream sequence for Bridget's mother who envisages her re-marriage to Bridget's father. The church's windows were blacked out, but it was full of helium balloons and coloured lighting according to bystanders who had sneaked a look inside. Raedon Luxon, who works in the White Horse pub opposite the church, said: "We have been full of workers from the film. They have been here since the early hours of this morning. "It certainly has been the most exciting thing to happen in the village for some time." Crew members had been swarming around the village since 6.30am, apparently going into the convenience store on Middle Street and asking for vast quantities of food, including 88 loaves of bread.

TE films Ltd, which is producing Bridget Jones, warned residents well in advance of the day's disruption at the church, and made a donation to the parish council funds.

The film—full title, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason—has been tentatively scheduled for release in November 2004. It is the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary, which took a massive £160m at the worldwide box office.

Has Bridget Jones finally got her wish for an idyllic wedding?

From the bouquet in her arms and the man of her dreams beside her, it would certainly seem so. But, as with most things Bridget, all is not quite what it seems.

Renee Zellweger, as the famous singleton, is actually the bridesmaid to her parents, who decide to renew their marriage vows after a brief separation. But the look of love she gives Colin Firth, who plays Mark Darcy, and her frantic rush to catch her mother's bouquet—it took three attempts—leaves no one in doubt that she's longing for the day when she will walk down the aisle as a bride.

The scene is from the eagerly-awaited movie Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Hopes were raised that Bridget would marry after cast member Celia Imrie hinted there was a wedding in the new film—even though the character does not wed in the book—and then said: "Oops, I shouldn't have said that."

A winter wonderland of snow and ice was created for the filming in Shere, Surrey. However, the real British weather interrupted shooting for most of the day as rain repeatedly destroyed the look of the fake snow. "In the end they had to do the scene in just three takes because rain kept on ruining the snowy effect," said an onlooker yesterday. "The whole cast looked very at ease with each other and they seemed to be having a good time."

The cast are halfway through filming the sequel to Helen Fielding' s Bridget Jones, which is expected to be complete by January.
 

Ren will I get a guy?
(The Sun, Dec 3, 2003)

Could single girl Renee Zellweger's fortunes be improving as she catches the bride’s bouquet with handsome Colin Firth at her shoulder?

But sadly for Renee it’s all just make-believe. The scene is from her new movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary: Edge Of Reason. And that’s not all that’s a fantasy. Even the snow fluttering across the Surrey countryside is fake.

In the scene, Bridget’s parents renew their wedding vows and she catches the bouquet— traditionally a sign that she will be next to walk down the aisle.

The tabloids have been making a big deal about all those extra pounds Renée Zellweger packed on for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the forthcoming sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). But Colin Firth, reprising his role as Bridget's dashing beau Mark Darcy, doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

"I've always preferred Renée, physically, in Bridget mode," he says. "I think that it's very pleasing. She's a very beautiful girl whatever she does, but I think that [as] Bridget [she] looks gorgeous and I wouldn't see any great need to get on the treadmill afterward."

The 43-year-old Love Actually star is still a bit befuddled by all of the attention the followup is generating. "About a month ago, I was told, 'Don't say anything about the film, don't give anything away,'" he notes. "Then, every shot that we do is followed, frame by frame, by the world's paparazzi, and it's in the papers the same day that we shot it. I've never worked in those circumstances before. It's like doing live, unrehearsed theater in the center of London."

One picture that appeared in nearly every newspaper from the U.K. to Uzbekistan was of Firth and Hugh Grant engaged in yet another violent brawl over the British heroine. Interestingly, Firth doesn't mind violating the film's strict code of silence to tell us who won. "Hugh has always been a miserable fighter," he laughs. "I find that he's physically deteriorated in the last three years. I have to be very careful and gentle with him now. I keep finding myself saying, 'Sorry,' and calling him a nurse and giving him a pill and a blanket."

The decision to cast Colin Firth in the second Bridget Jones film has necessitated a hasty rewrite of the original script. For in Helen Fielding's original novel, Firth—who plays love interest Mr Darcy— makes an appearance as himself.

"Bridget actually has a crush on Colin Firth and, in the second book, gets to interview him," says Firth. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but that bit has had to be written out of the film. There won't be any Colin Firth in the film, so there'll be no confusion with getting another actor to play me."

Firth, who was speaking at the premiere of Love Actually, is clearly taking his duties as lead male particularly seriously. "Oh my goodness, it's 2am and I start filming Bridget Jones tomorrow—no today—at seven," he said, hastening for the exit. "Those costume girls will need to give me plenty of make-up."

A USA Today article (11/17/03), reporting from the American Cinematheque Award dinner honoring Nicole Kidman, stated that...co-star Jacinda Barrett, who'll be seen in 2004's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason as Renee Zellweger's lesbian love interest."

Add this, from Baz's column in the Daily Mail (11/7/03) "I'm Colin Firth's pupil [Ed note: a junior barrister] and Bridget is convinced we're having an affair," explained Jacinda. Jacinda
was keen for me to know that the Rebecca she plays on screen is very different from the insufferable Rebecca in Helen Fielding's novel.

So is the "big twist" that Bridget misconstrues Rebecca's efforts to be with her as trying to snare Mark? Bridget imagines they're having an affair, when Rebecca couldn't be less interested in Mark? Stay tuned.

Colin Firth has so far been having a bit of a rough time on the set of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Recent spy pictures to emerge from the production showed Firth locked in mortal combat with Hugh Grant—a reprisal of the classic brawl that marked the first film's high point—and the epic battle has taken its toll on the actor.

"You may have noticed I've lost my voice," Firth told Empire Online. "It's not puberty, it's actually because I was freezing cold—we end up in the water in that fight. I spent a couple of days in a very, very cold pond with Hugh Grant, which socially was pleasant enough but has left me a little worse for wear."

Resuming his role as the aloof and stand-offish Mark Darcy, Firth initially had reservations at returning to Bridget's world. "It's very odd actually, I think most of us were sceptical about whether… obviously a sequel is fraught with dangers but most of my fears were allayed the minute Renee opened her mouth. I thought, 'there's a lot more life in this now, she's great and we're going to want to see a lot more of this.'"

So all is well, when he's not standing waist-deep in duckweed or getting his head kicked in by his bumbling co-star, who incidentally, Firth insists, would stand no chance in a real life rumble. "I'd kick his arse any day." (article here)

Jacinda Barrett, a veteran of MTV's "The Real World," has landed another high-profile acting role, joining the cast of the upcoming sequel to the 2001 hit "Bridget Jones's Diary." Barrett will play Bridget's co-worker in the film, which is being directed by Beeban Kidron.

From Empireonline (Oct 27, 2003)

Jacinda Barrett, talked to us a little about her role in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason which is currently filming in London. 'I work with Mark Darcy and Bridget becomes obsessed, in the way Bridget does, that we're having an affair and are falling madly in love, and that I'm right for Mark in every way she's not. Then lots of stuff ensues and she goes off to Thailand and they break up. Then you find out there's big twist—but I'm not going to give that away.'

It WAS hardly a clash of the titans when actors Hugh Grant and Colin Firth got to grips with each other in London's Hyde Park. The fight scene for the new Bridget Jones film was more like handbags at dawn. But that won't come as any surprise to anyone who saw the pair slug it out in similarly wimpy fashion in their roles as Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy in the original Bridget Jones's Diary.

The new film takes up Bridget's life only weeks after the original ended, when she and Mark finally looked like having a future. But the reappearance of Daniel, Bridget's love rat former boss, who dumped her after a brief affair, is sure to signal trouble.

Now it's Bridge-hit Jones
(The Sun, Oct 23, 2003)

Hunks Hugh Grant and Colin Firth go brawl out to win Bridget Jones in the new movie. Suited Colin as Mark Darcy got to grips with rival Hugh—cad Daniel Cleaver—in London’s Hyde Park yesterday. The pair, both 43, also scrapped in the street in the original film.

Bridget star Renee Zellweger could not escape swine indulging in beastly behaviour. Renee, 34, wore goggles and a jumpsuit as she filmed the new Bridget movie, The Edge Of Reason—at a pig sty in Rickmansworth, Herts. But judging by her porky co-stars’ antics, they’d had enough of Renee hogging the limelight.
 

Hugh fights Colin for Bridget
(Daily Mail, Oct 23, 2003)

As fights go, it's hardly in the Mike Tyson league. But then this is Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. The actors indulged in a less than impressive display of hair pulling, slapping and wrestling in Kensington Gardens, West London, yesterday. And it was all in the name of love for Bridget Jones.

The pair were filming scenes for The Edge Of Reason, the sequel to the hit movie in which they starred as rivals for the affections of the unlucky-in-love singleton, played by Renee Zellweger.  The fight mirrors a tussle in the first film between Firth as the dashing Mark Darcy and Grant as the dastardly Daniel Cleaver.  In the new sequence, they wrestle perilously close to a lake - but it is not known who wins, or if the pair plunge into the water.

The scene was not without its mishaps for the actors, both 43. "At one stage Colin did actually hit Hugh in the face and they had to stop filming," said an insider. "But they were soon laughing about it."

Only Bridget Jones could get things quite so back to front. And only Renee Zellweger, saddled with playing Britain's most famous clumsy singleton, could have such a horse laugh in the process.

Asked to get on her mount the wrong way round on the Hertfordshire set of The Edge of Reason— the Bridget Jones sequel—the 34-year-old Texan actress clowned convincingly as a rider utterly  foxed by the situation.

Then she gave up trying to keep a straight face and roared with laughter as stable hands helped her to stay upright. 'Renee just couldn't stop giggling,' said an onlooker. 'She was acting out a scene featured in the book on which the film is based, so she pretty much knew to play it for laughs. But Renee kept wobbling on top of the animal and couldn't help herself when the giggles came.

'Some of the stable workers had to come and help her stay aloft and that only made her laugh even more.'

Miss Zellweger has been forced to endure some humiliating scenes in the making of the film, including being forced into an unflattering orange and yellow jumpsuit at RAF Buckinghamshire.

The film, also starring Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, is due to be released next year.

Film funnygirl Renée Zellweger is back in the saddle as hapless Bridget Jones—and she is getting it all wrong again. Renée, 34, ended up facing backwards on a horse during filming of the Bridget Jones’s Diary sequel in Hertfordshire.

An insider said: “She plays a TV reporter and one scene shows her at a hunt. She has to turn around to broadcast to the cameraman on his own horse following her mount. In fact, Renée is a very accomplished horsewoman—she would have to be to ride in that way at full speed.”

But trust dippy Bridget to end up in an unstable relationship.

Pictures from the filming of the new Bridget Jones film, The Edge Of Reason, have been popping up all over the shop since the shoot began in the UK last week. And when film trucks began arriving at London's Borough market, Empire Online readers were quick to step up and snap some great pictures on the set.

Fans of the first film will remember Borough Market as the location of Bridget's flat and the scene of the wonderful, 'It's a real live fight!' between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth's characters. Empire Online reader Paul Scott handily works just round the corner from the action and sent us some great pictures from the shoot. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that Bridget's coterie has been expanded by Spaced actress Jessica Stevenson!

This is the moment to delight Bridget Jones’ fans—a morning after kiss from Mark Darcy.

These exclusive pictures taken today on the set of the sequel Bridget Jones:  The Edge of Reason, show Colin Firth as Darcy leaving Bridget’s flat after they spent the night together. The scene apparently ends speculation as to whether the pair actually get together in the second film based loosely on the book by Helen Fielding.

There was a hint of romance earlier this week when the Evening Standard published a kissing scene filmed in a North London park.  As cameras rolled today Darcy and Renee Zellweger’s Bridget Jones leave her flat above the Globe pub in Borough Market, kiss in a “morning after” sort of way then go their separate ways.

As Bridget walks away she texts a note to Mark on his mobile, but just as she is writing it, he creeps back up behind her and whispers “Thanks for last night,” in her ear.

As Mark turns to walk off the cameras pan to Bridget’s ear to ear grin.

It’s a red-letter day in Bridget Jones’s Diary—the moment when she and Mark Darcy get together again. Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth renew their on-screen partnership after two and a half years, and its seems like they’ve never been apart.

The couple share a passionate embrace in a North London park in a scene from the second instalment of the Bridget story, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. They gaze into each other’s eyes, hug and kiss before removing their outer clothing. To see what develops next, fans will have to wait until the movie reaches cinema screens some months hence.

In the first film based on Helen Fielding’s best-selling books, Miss Zellweger ended up in the arms of Firth, 43, after the pair enjoyed a volatile on-off romance—frequently interrupted by the caddish Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant.

The sequel picks up the story weeks later with Bridget already beginning to harbour doubts about Darcy, the dashing barrister.

Miss Zellweger has piled on four stone for the role in three months. The 34-year-old American has employed a nutritionist to avoid any potential health problems. ‘I did it again because I loved the new script—and all the good guys are back,’ she said. ‘I love Bridget. We both have had our ups and downs when it comes to love.’

Despite the physical strains, Miss Zellweger is relishing her return to the role of the hard-drinking, unlucky-in-love young Englishwoman. ‘This time I’m a lot more confident,’ she said. ‘Last time when I went to England they were out with the knives because they were outraged that an American actress was playing this British icon. But I hope I showed them I could do it.’

Star Renée Zellweger, 34, grimaces as she films new Bridget Jones movie The Edge of Reason, in North London yesterday—probably because she’s had to dress like Little Miss Muffet.

Needless to say, her screen romance with Mark Darcy—actor Colin Firth—is anything BUT a fairytale.
 
 

Renee's v bad skirt
(The Daily Record, Oct 14 2003)

Renee Zellweger was not exactly dressed to thrill as she shared a clinch with Colin Firth in a love scene for the new Bridget Jones film.

She has famously piled on the pounds, up to a dress size 14 for Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason.

But she obviously saw the funny side of being made to wear a frilly, floral puffball creation. 

The bottom line was, Renee Zellwegger couldn't have picked a worse outfit if she'd tried.

As she started shooting the new Bridget Jones movie, for which she has piled on the pounds, her first scene called for her to don a skintight orange and yellow parachute jumpsuit which amply emphasised her fuller figure ... particularly in the nether regions.

But the 34-year-old actress seemed happy enough, perhaps because she has at last got down to work after three months of high-calorie eating to gain weight for reprising her role of the unlucky-in-love singleton—and because her salary will be an equally hefty £15 million.

Miss Zellweger went from a size eight to a size 14 for the new film, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, after having fattened up for the first movie and then slimmed down again.

The parachuting scene—in which she was hauled up by a crane—was being filmed at an RAF base in Buckinghamshire.

Renee Zellweger has confirmed she has begun the process of putting on weight for her role in the new Bridget Jones movie. The 34-year-old actor told reporters at last night's London premiere of Down With Love that she had been working with a nutritionist in a bid to pile on the pounds....

The story for the sequel, titled Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, picks up four weeks after the end of the first film. The cuddly singleton paranoiac is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with her relationship with Mark Darcy after discovering he votes Conservative.

The film is set to hit cinemas next year and will see Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth all reprising their roles.

Colin Firth only agreed to star in the Bridget Jones' Diary sequel after British film-maker Richard Curtis stepped in to rewrite the script. The production has been plagued with troubles ever since the three main stars Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Firth refused to commit to The Edge Of Reason unless they were entirely happy with the script. After original drafts by novelist Helen Fielding and celebrated scriptwriter Andrew Davies needed further work, Curtis—who has just directed both Grant and Firth in Love Actually—was brought in, and now a previously resistant Firth has given the project the go-ahead. He says, "I'm now happy with the script, which has been through various drafts, the latest of which was by Richard Curtis."

Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant have all read Adam Brooks’s latest script for Bridget Jones 2—The Edge of Reason. They, along with director Beeban Kidron and interested parties, have passed on their two cents’ worth to writer Brooks, who will come up with another draft. Firth, who has just finished filming the terrifying thriller Trauma, told me that at least one problem—the novel features Bridget interviewing Colin Firth—has been solved. ‘They’ve just dropped the interview altogether,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to having another go’ he added of the project. As filming begins in the autumn, producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working title will be celebrating the firm’s 20th anniversary (Bevan founded Working Title with Sarah Radcliffe).

Zellweger's engaged in a package deal with Universal and Miramax that will pay her $21 million to do both "Cinderella Man" and the sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary," which begins lensing in October. 

On both films, U has domestic and Miramax has foreign territories. 

After months of speculation, UK director Beeban Kidron is close to a deal to direct Renee Zellweger in Working Title Films' Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason.

Kidron has long been linked to the sequel to the 2001 hit but negotiations have stepped up in the last week. Zellweger, who starred in Bridget Jones's Diary, is already reportedly committed to the sequel, which is expected to start shooting this autumn.

Kidron, who first came to prominence with 1990 TV series Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, directed 1997's Swept From The Sea and 1995's To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar. She is reportedly signed to direct The Reluctant Matador for Myriad Pictures and Charles Finch and Luc Roeg's Artists Independent Network.

Helen Fielding's book The Edge of Reason picks up where Bridget Jones's Diary left off. Life with Mark Darcy turns out to be less than perfect, however, particularly when love rival Rebecca comes on the scene. The film version of Bridget Jones's Diary was directed by Sharon Maguire.

Bridget Jones’s Diary star Renee Zellweger is scoffing 20 doughnuts a DAY in a bid to pile on two stones for the sequel. Seven-stone Renee has six weeks to go from a size six to a size 14 before playing the podgy neurotic in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.  Blonde Renee has ruled out exercise during her 4,700 calorie-a-day diet.

Renee, 34, set to earn £15million for the film, said: “One doughnut does not do a thing—you’ve got to eat 20 a day for five weeks to get results.” 

She put on 20lb in three months for the blockbuster original but got hooked on pizza. It took months of running and yoga to lose weight. 

Renée Zellweger is to pile on the pounds to play Bridget Jones again—in return for a pay deal which will make her one of Hollywood's top earners. The Texan actress, who had resisted reprising the role, is to receive more than £15million to appear in The Edge Of Reason. It dwarfs the £2.5million she received for the first film, Bridget Jones's Diary, released two years ago to critical and public acclaim. 

Miss Zellweger, 34, was said to be reluctant to put on the 20lb required to play the Chardonnay— swigging singleton for a second time. The actress, who had trouble losing the two stones she put on for the first film, will have to increase her intake by about 1,550 calories a day and will not be allowed to exercise. But she will not have to keep the weight on throughout filming—in the new movie Bridget loses weight when she ends up in a Thai prison wrongly accused of drug smuggling.

The £15million is double the amount Miss Zellweger was paid for her last three films, Down With Love, Cold Mountain and the musical Chicago, for which she was nominated for an Oscar as best actress. The sum propels her into the A-list of female stars who can command top fees for their work, including Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman. 

Under the deal, signed this week with British production company Working Title, Miss Zellweger will receive £10 million up front, plus a further 10 per cent of box office takings once the film has earned its costs back.  On top of that, she will be entitled to a share of profits from the lucrative DVD and video sales. The first film cost £16million to make and took more than £100million worldwide.

Despite its success, Miss Zellweger was said to be unhappy at the thought of doing a follow-up because she feared it would not live up to expectations. 

In the new movie, adapted from Helen Fielding's bestselling book, Bridget has moved in with barrister Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth in the original film. Life is not as perfect as she had hoped, however, because Darcy proves to be exceptionally lazy with regard to hygiene. [Ed note: Suspect writer projected last girl friend's complaint on object of same's affection; is jealousy.] Fed-up Bridget, now a successful television presenter, moves out but a series of problems see her end up in the Thai prison.

Firth and Hugh Grant, who played her love interests in the first film, have also agreed to sign up to the long-awaited sequel.

Filming in Britain is due to start in July.

So close and yet so far… The Edge of Reason, the much anticipated sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary, has hit a bump. Renée Zellweger’s agents want a change of director. They have said they would prefer the film NOT to be directed by Beeban Kidron, who has the backing of its British producers at Working Title.

Renée’s people want Nigel Cole, the man who made Calendar Girls (which will be a blockbuster when it opens in September). But they won’t get him because, coming off a hit movie, he won’t want to make a follow-up to someone else’s film—albeit a high profile one. 

The people at Working Title have been busily trying to persuade Renée’s people to let them stick with Ms Kidron. Other than that tiny problem, the film is ready to go before the cameras in the autumn. In another twist, I’m informed that Renée would have declined to do The Edge of Reason if she had won the Oscar for her role as Roxie Hart in Chicago. 

Savvy Oscar winners are usually advised not to make a sequel immediately after they win the statuette, although Godfather 2 is an exception to the general rule. 

Renée probably couldn’t afford not to do The Edge of Reason. I’m told she has an offer of $16 million—plus ten per cent of box office takings once the film has got its money back, and a share of profits from DVD and video sales. 

It’s a $20 million-plus pay-day for Renée! She will be before the cameras playing Bridget Jones in the fall. ‘Period!’ said someone close to her agents.
 

Hello magazine
In the new flick Bridget has moved in with barrister Mark Darcy, but discovers domestic bliss is not so blissful after all. A tough new storyline sees our heroine dumping her beau, before a series of mishaps land her in a Thai prison.

After more than two years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Renée Zellweger is poised to sign on the dotted line and bring thirtysomething Bridget Jones back before the cameras in October. 

The actress, who won an Oscar nomination for the first movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary, will arrive in London in September to prepare for filming the long-awaited sequel. Colin Firth will return as her posh lawyer lover Mark Darcy, and Hugh Grant will make a brief appearance as love rat Daniel Cleaver. The movie will be based on Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones sequel, The Edge of Reason. 

Renée gained 20 pounds for the first picture but the new storyline includes Bridget thrown into a Thai jail on drug charges, so she won’t be required to put on much weight—for that part of the plot at any rate. A film studio executive told me in Cannes that it was a new script by Adam Brooks that finally won Renée over.

There were a number of potential complications with the new screenplay—for example, Bridget has to interview Colin Firth as himself. Screenwriter Andrew Davies and Ms Fielding worked on the script for the new film, but neither could overcome the plot problems. Finally, executives at London-based Working Title film company hand-delivered a copy of Brook’s version to Renee in Los Angeles.

However, an executive close to the production—nerves frayed after months of negotiations with Renée—urged a little caution. ‘It’s true that the intention is to film in October and Renée has very intention of doing The Edge of Reason but there’s still no signed bit of paper.’

Undeterred, director Beeban Kidron has started scouting locations.

Renée Zellweger has been persuaded to stick with the Bridget Jones movie sequel. And if she likes a new script being worked on now and due to be finished in a matter of weeks, then the film could be before cameras by the end of the summer. 

High-priced screenwriter Adam Brooks has been paid a fortune to ‘polish’ existing drafts of the script, which will be shown to Renee and others connected to the production next month.

He has been brought in to ‘iron out’ problems with earlier drafts of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason, written for the screen by award-winning Andrew Davies. 

Recently, there had been concern that all was not well with the project—a follow-up to one of the most successful British comedy films in years. The original director wasn’t involved, there were script worries and leading lady Renee wasn’t signing on the dotted line. ‘We’re workin’ on it’, she told me, adding: ‘We’re not there yet’.

If the new script passes muster with Renée and other key players such as Colin Firth, Hugh Grant and new director Beeban Kidron, then the project will be ‘fast-tracked’ and will go into production late this summer, those close to the project inform me.

‘Renée had the title role and her name above the title with Bridget Jones’s Diary and she won her first Academy Award nomination for it. So the bar has been set high. You only want to do a second film if the bar is raised just as high, if not higher,’ an executive explained. Another film chief told me: ‘It’ll happen. Adam Brooks did a script called Wimbledon and everyone likes it, and he’ll do a great job on The Edge of Reason. This is a movie people want to see and Renée knows that.’ 

GOOD news for all frumpish thirtysomething singletons. In fact, v.g. news. Renée Zellweger, the Hollywood stick insect who piled on the pounds to star in Bridget Jones’s Diary, has finally agreed to appear in the sequel. After months of dithering, the diminutive actress has agreed to take the lead in The Edge Of Reason, based on Helen Fielding’s second Bridget Jones novel. It has to follow one of the most successful British films, which took £1.7 million on its first day alone in 2001, after hitting the G-spots of a whole female generation of city-dwelling chardonnay-swiggers.

“I’m ready, willing and able; Bridget’s a character I really identify with,” Ms Zellweger confirmed at a press conference for her latest vehicle, Chicago. “I’ll put the weight back on with pleasure.”

She had to fatten up by nearly 20lb for the original role. Barely a year ago, the prospect of a second Bridget Jones film seemed doomed when Ms Zellweger declared: “There is no way I am going to put all that weight on again.”

According to Hollywood gossip, she was persuaded by Colin Firth, her on-screen lover in the first film, who is expected to reprise his role as Mark Darcy. “To work with Colin again would be fantastic,” Ms Zellweger said.

The script may also have had a bearing. Andrew Davies, who is writing the screenplay with Richard Curtis in between television costume-drama adaptations, promised a more streamlined Bridget. “The script doesn’t require her to bulk up all that much. The plot involves her doing time in a Thai jail for drug-smuggling, which means she actually has to lose weight,” he said.

In a television interview earlier this month, Ms Zellweger said: “I’ll do it if it’s worthy of Helen Fielding and the character Bridget embodies.”

The Edge of Reason is expected to be released in the summer of 2004. Fans will have to wait until then to discover whether Bridget has sharpened up her dress sense and substituted a thong for those awful Zeppelin-sized knickers.

After months of speculation, Hollywood star Renée Zellweger has finally agreed to appear in a  sequel to 2001 hit movie Bridget Jones's Diary—even if it means she must put on weight. Plans for a second installment were scuppered last year when the slim star insisted "There is no way I'm going to put all that weight on again. I hated it." But it seems her on screen love interest, British actor Colin Firth, has persuaded her to reprise her role as the frustrated singleton. Renée says, "I'm ready, willing and able. Bridget's a character I really identify with. I'll put the weight back on with pleasure." And on Firth's influence, she adds, "To work with Colin again would be fantastic." The actress may not have to bulk up quite so much as she did in the first movie. Writer Andrew Davies explains fans will see a more streamlined Bridget in the follow up. He says, "This time the script doesn't require her to bulk up all that much. The plot involves her doing time in a Thai jail, which means she actually has to lose weight." 

[W]ith a proposed sequel in the pipeline, based on Helen Fielding’s follow-up book The Edge of Reason, there’s still speculation over whether she’ll be prepared to pack on the pounds again. The production company Working Title starts filming next spring and there’s one woman who’s even more curious to know the answer than most. She’s 25-year-old Melinda Whiting.

Chances are you’ve never heard of Melinda before. But, if you’re one of the millions who saw Bridget Jones’s Diary, you’ll know her hands, feet, legs, back of her head—even her handwriting in all the diary writing scenes. In fact, you probably know her cleavage, because that was Melinda’s body on the ads, with Renée’s head superimposed by computer. ‘They originally just wanted me to stand in for Bridget’s hands and legs,’ says Melinda...who... became Renée’s body double throughout the film. [...]

Of course, one of the greatest perks of the job was working with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. ‘They’re both lovely men,’ Melinda admits. ‘When I first met Colin, I thought, “Oh no, you can’t be married with children. It’s just not fair!” He really is everyone’s ideal man. He is level-headed and easy to talk to, and was encouraging when I told him how much I wanted to act myself. But he was more reserved than Hugh,’ who, according to Melinda, seemed similar to his alter ego Daniel Cleaver. ‘Or, at least, that was my perception of him....'
 

British actor Colin Firth says if he co-stars in a sequel to the smash romantic comedy, "Bridget Jones's Diary," which was based on the book of the same name, he will reprise his role as the austere, yet sexy attorney, Mark Darcy. He says, however, he will not play a character based on himself as appears in novelist Helen Fielding's follow-up, "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason."

Noting that Colin Firth, star of the British Broadcasting Corp. version of "Pride and Prejudice" and object of the fictional Jones' obsession, is an actual character in Fielding's second Bridget adventure, Firth swore that part of the book will not be transferred to the big screen. "He'll become George Clooney or something," he told United Press International.

The actor then revealed he helped Fielding pen the hilarious scene in the book where Jones makes a fool out of herself interviewing none other than Colin Firth. First, the actor inspired Fielding by recalling some of his worst encounters with the press. Then, he and the author acted out the interview scene with Fielding as Jones asking Firth, as Firth, inane questions like, "What is your favorite color?" and "How many times did you have to change your shirt while filming 'Pride and Prejudice'?"

Asked if he has ever had an interview go quite that badly, Firth exclaimed, "Oh, I would say so."

"I've had much worse experiences than that. The worst ones, actually, are the ones that seem to go very well until you read it afterwards," he confessed. "It's like you weren't (at the same interview) and this smiling, friendly person in front of you had obviously loathed you."

The World Entertainment News Network reported Renée Zellweger was close to inking a deal to reprise her role of Bridget in a sequel. Her performance in the original movie earned her an Academy Award nomination last year.

After months of intense negotiations, an agreement is 'virtually in place' for Renee Zellweger to star in the Bridget Jones movie sequel. It's the most confident that people on both sides—Ms Zellweger's negotiators and executives connected to the film—have felt all year about luring the actress back to the role that made her an international star. 'We've virtually agreed a deal.

In fact, there's an agreement in place and I don't see any reason why it won't happen,' says someone close to movie chiefs at Working Title, who are thrashing out the details. Renee's fee for the sequel—The Edge Of Reason—will soar.

She could make $8-10 million dollars for reprising her role as the neurotic, calorie-counting heroine. 'She'll be paid considerably more than she got for the original movie,' was all one insider would say.

It's understood that Renee's negotiating team kept asking for more money to be put on the table. Then it wanted a bigger slice of revenues from DVD and video sales. 'The money wasn't actually a problem,' I was told. 'It was more to do with the fact that, now she's a big star, she's got dozens of offers out there—so when will she have the time? Time was the problem.' The reality is that executives are keen to get the film shooting by next summer—which is already several months later than they would originally have liked.

'Frankly, whenever the cameras start rolling on this one, I'll be happy,' one consultant told me. Renee should receive a script by the end of November. Writers Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding (author of the diaries) and Richard Curtis have all had a hand in it.

Once Renee and others have approved the script and she is safely on board, then the rest of the cast—expected to include Hugh Grant and Colin Firth—will be contracted.

Several directors, including original Bridget Jones filmmaker Sharon Maguire and Beeban Kidron (Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit), are on the shortlist.

Bridget Jones is set to be the envy of sad singletons everywhere—by scoring a date with Hollywood hunk George Clooney in her next film. Clooney is being lined up for a part opposite Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the planned sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary. It will be a case of art imitating life because Clooney and Zellweger once enjoyed a few dates of their own. The plans were revealed today by writer Andrew Davies, who is working on the script for the sequel.

In Helen Fielding's book, Bridget is sent to interview actor Colin Firth—a man she has lusted after ever since his appearance in Pride and Prejudice. But Firth played Bridget's boyfriend Mark Darcy in the first film and is set to reprise his role in the sequel—leaving scriptwriters with a problem.

The solution was to find another heart-throb actor to play the object of Bridget's desire and Clooney is the ideal choice. Davies said: "We're hoping to substitute George Clooney for Colin Firth because we want Colin to play Darcy again. "I've written four drafts and the latest version is with Renée Zellweger. We are just waiting for her reaction.

"Reactions have been very good all the way along and we want to start filming it this year."

Typically for Bridget, her meeting with Firth in the book goes disastrously wrong and hopes of a romance are cruelly dashed.

Zellweger, 33, is said to have briefly dated Clooney last year after splitting from fellow Hollywood star Jim Carrey. 

The actress put on a stone-and-a-half playing the Chardonnay-swigging Bridget in the first film, which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. She soon slimmed back down to a tiny size six, prompting concern about her health. Luckily for Zellweger, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason will not require her to pile on so much weight a second time. Davies explained: "This time the script doesn't require her to bulk up all that much. The plot involves her doing time in a Thai jail which means she actually has to lose weight."

Davies, whose credits include adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, plus the forthcoming dramas Dr Zhivago and Daniel Deronda, is co-writing the screenplay with Richard Curtis.

Colin Firth—who starred with Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant in "Bridget Jones's Diary"— is actually a character in novelist Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones sequel, "The Edge of Reason," prompting the question: Who will play Firth in the movie version?

First things first, though. Firth isn't sure there will be an "Edge of Reason" movie.

"I can't really answer that question informatively," he told United Press International. "I don't know. As far as I'm concerned it's all rumor." Firth said there had been talk of a movie, but it has quieted down. "I just think it's probably a very difficult thing to mount," he said, "three actors who have to be available at the same time and a script that would have to be good enough."

But if there were a movie, who would play the character of Colin Firth?

"He won't be there," said Firth. "He'll become George Clooney or something."

Bridget becomes a journalist in "The Edge of Reason" and interviews Firth. Director Sharon Maguire—who had been talked about as a possible director for the project—reportedly said Firth would play himself, as well as reprise his role as Mark Darcy from "Bridget Jones's Diary."

The writers of Bridget Jones's Diary say the sequel is "looking good."

Andrew Davies has already written two drafts of the second film, to be called Edge Of Reason. His writing partner Richard Curtis says he's pretty sure Renée Zellweger will star in the film. "She's an Oscar nominee for the first one. We're f***ed if she doesn't," Curtis told Ananova. Curtis and Davies refused to comment on whether Hugh Grant's role would be expanded in the sequel.

But speaking at the London Film Critics' Awards, where they won the Best British Screenwriters award, they did say they had a "very cunning" way around the dilemma they face over Colin Firth. In Helen Fielding's book, Bridget Jones interviews the real-life actor Firth, who is expected to star again in the film as Mark Darcy.

But he is adapting The Edge of Reason, the second Bridget Jones. Davies is doing the first draft. So Renée Zellweger has signed up to put on several stone again? "She understandably doesn't want to put on all that weight again, so I'm trying to make fewer references to Bridget's weight."

The production company responsible for the box office smash hit Bridget Jones's Diary has bought the film rights for its sequel. Working Title is reported [by Daily Variety's Jonathan Bing] to have paid in excess of $1m (£700,000) for the rights to The Edge Of Reason by Helen Fielding....Fielding's agent confirmed to BBC News Online that Working Title had bought the movie rights, but would not divulge the value of the deal.

However, one problem the sequel would face is the appearance of actor Colin Firth as both himself and as character Mark Darcy. In The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones splits from barrister Darcy and sets out to become a journalist by interviewing actor Colin Firth.

Daily Variety reports that The Edge of Reason will not be adapted for the screen by Fielding, who wrote the screenplay for the current box-office hit.

"I wrote the part of Mark Darcy for Colin Firth and I do hope he will come back for a repeat of his lovely performance," Fielding told Daily Variety. "If he does, he will simply have to don a large beard and handlebar moustache and play himself."

The Bridget bandwagon starts here. Barely a week after the release of Bridget Jones's Diary in the US and the UK, the film's makers appear to be already preparing the ground for a sequel. British backers Working Title have acquired the rights to Helen Fielding's second Bridget novel Edge of Reason with a view to filming early next year. According to a report in Variety, they are currently negotiating a deal for Fielding to again collaborate on the screenplay.

Working Title's plans have reportedly been accelerated by the phenomenal success of their movie...The company's co-chairman Eric Fellner stresses that a sequel is still not a certainty, but adds: "When you've got numbers like this, you've got to think about it."

...Edge of Reason follows Bridget through more trials as she attempts to cling on to her relationship with human rights lawyer Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth in the film). Daniel Cleaver (played by Hugh Grant) does not feature in the second book.

But the biggest possible movie obstacle is the availability of star Renée Zellweger. The Texan actress was rumoured to have found the first shoot an exhausting and uncomfortable experience, felt unhappy with having to gain 20lbs in weight and recently insisted that "no amount of money" would make her return to the role. But the Telegraph this week reports that Zellweger is prepared to make the sequel so long as she can remain in her svelte natural state. While the makers have apparently agreed to Zellwegger's condition, a skinny Bridget surely isn't the same.

Renée Zellweger, the American star of Bridget Jones's Diary, has agreed to appear in a sequel after being assured that she will not have to put on much extra weight again for the role. The normally svelte actress had originally refused to repeat the part of the neurotic thirtysomething single girl searching for love because it would require her to pile on the pounds. She had to put on two stone for the original film, which broke box office records when it opened on Friday across Britain and America.

Echoing her screen character's obsession with her figure, Zellweger, 32, had told Working Title, the film's British producers, that "no amount of money" could persuade her to appear in a sequel. She said: "I was overweight for eight months and I don't want to go through that experience again."

However, Zellweger was persuaded to change her mind when told that she would not have to put on weight to play the part and plans for a sequel are now well advanced. Bridget Jones's Diary is on course to be the most successful British-made film ever after taking £1.7 million in the UK on its opening night, double the amount that Notting Hill, the record holder, took when it opened.

The film is expected to take £6 million in its first weekend, £1.8 million more than Notting Hill. In America it took £1.2 million on Friday night, beaten only by Spy Kids, the Easter holiday children's movie....

Working Title has been so delighted by the reviews of the film, and its popularity at pre-opening screenings, that it is determined to go ahead with the sequel, based on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the second of the books by Helen Fielding. The London-based company, which also produced Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, is expected to start filming next year.

A casting director working on the project said Zellweger "needs to be on board as it would be difficult to introduce a new Bridget". He said: "However, it appears possible to persuade Renee to appear again if she is not made to put on as many pounds. Bridget is thinner in the second book as she spends time in a Thai jail after being imprisoned for drug trafficking."

It is hoped that the original film's other stars will also appear in the sequel. Zellweger's publicist, Leslie Sloane, confirmed that the actress was no longer ruling herself out of the new film. A spokesman for Miss Fielding, who co-wrote the film with Richard Curtis, the writer of Notting Hill, said that she would be working on the second script.

Eric Fellner, the producer of Bridget Jones and co-chairman of Working Title, said that he would be sitting down on Tuesday to plan in detail how to film the sequel starring Zellweger. It had already been discussed with the cast and the company had taken out the option to film the second book.

Renée Zellweger has been lined up to star in a sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary. The makers of the £25 million movie have been so thrilled by the reaction to the comedy at previews that want to make a follow up. Zellweger is understood to have been optioned for the sequel along with co-stars Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, who play the men in Bridget's life. A senior source at Miramax, which co-produced the film, told Ananova: " We think Americans will go in a big way for Bridget and we could be into a three-part series."