Rhiteek Chatterjee
The films in the ‘Bridget Jones’ trilogy have been among the most definitive romantic comedy film series in recent times. They are replete with witty British humour and the romantic charm that one just craves for. Adapted from English novelist Helen Fielding’s novel series of the same, the trilogy stars Renée Zellweger as the titular character and depicts the various obstacles she deals with, while incorporating romance and comedy in the narrative.
The first film, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ (2001), is directed by Sharon Maguire and follows Bridget Jones, a British woman who is determined to improve herself in various aspects of her life while she looks for love in a year in which she keeps a personal diary. The second film, ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’, directed by Beeban Kidron, follows up on the first film with Jones, after finding love, questions whether she really has everything she’s dreamed of having. The third film, directed by Maguire, is set nearly 10 years after the events of the second film where Jones is now pregnant. However, she is not sure as to who the father is.
Barring the second film, the first and the third have been critical favourites. On the box office charts, the three films have scored big, grossing over $756 million worldwide against a combined budget of $100 million. The combined success of each film helped spawn a sequel, and in January 2018, Zellweger hinted towards the possibility of a fourth film. So, here is everything we know about the yet untitled fourth film of the ‘Bridget Jones’ series.
Bridget Jones 4 Plot: What is it about?
One problem that the fourth film might face is how would the filmmaker reinvent the narrative surrounding the lovable goof. The second film faced this problem as Kidron could not work upon the critically acclaimed first flick. Quite surprisingly, Maguire came back to save the day and reinvented the character as well as the film which helped make the third one a critical success. One aspect the writers can get into is Bridget Jones’ efforts in handling her new life as a mother. This could help in sharpening the edges of her character while also dealing with her romantic life.
Bridget Jones 4 Cast: Who is in it?
There has been no updates or comments provided by the studio or the filmmaker on the cast of the fourth film. However, given how the characters are placed in the three films, we can only speculate on how would things work out in the fourth ‘Bridget Jones’ film. Renée Zellweger has worked on merely three films since ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’. She essayed the role of Deborah Hall in the Christian drama ‘Same Kind of Different as Me’ (2017) and Tessa in the romantic drama ‘Here and Now’ (2018). She is also starring as the American actress Judy Garland in the biographical drama ‘Judy’ which is set to release in 2019. The actress was also a part of Netflix originals’ thriller anthology web miniseries ‘What/If’ (2019).
Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth has been quite busy lately. The actor is filming English filmmaker Sam Mendes’ upcoming war film ‘1917’ and has just completed Marc Munden’s fantasy film ‘The Secret Garden’ whose release date has not been announced yet. Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent, who essays the role of Bridget’s father Colin Jones, is starring in four films up for release — the war drama ‘Six Minutes To Midnight’, ‘Magik’, the fantasy comedy ‘The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle’ and the family drama ‘A Boy Called Christmas’. Character actress Gemma Jones, who essays the role of her mother, Pamela Jones, has one film coming up – ‘Ammonite’, whose release date has not been announced yet.
Shirley Henderson, who recently won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Elizabeth in the musical ‘Girl from the North Country’, plays the role of Judy. The actress has one movie in post-production — the satirical film ‘Greed’. James Callis, who stars as Tom, has not worked in any film since 2017 and has no releases in 2019. Scottish actor Donald Douglas, who essays the role of Admiral Darcy, also has no recent film or television series coming up. There has been no word on Hugh Grant and Patrick Dempsey, who both played the “third wheel” in the ‘Bridget Jones’ trilogy. Grant portrayed the character of Daniel Cleaver in the first two films but did not reprise the role in the third one. His narrative position was replaced by Dempsey, who essayed the role of Jack Qwant, in the third film.
Bridget Jones 4 Crew: Who is behind it?
Sharon Maguire directed the first and the third film while Beeban Kidron directed the second film. However, given how the three films have worked out, the studio would most probably hand Maguire the reign for the fourth film. Maguire’s ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ received unanimously positive reviews but Kidron’s ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ received highly negative reviews.
The first two films are co-written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding and Adam Brooks, and the third one saw Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson take over the writer’s podium. Fielding is a novelist and has worked as a screenwriter in the ‘Bridget Jones’ trilogy to help with the adaptation. So, she would most probably come back for the fourth film. Mazer last wrote the screenplay for the Christmas comedy ‘Office Christmas Party’.
Emma Thompson has already proven her writing talents with her Academy Award for Screenplay Film win for Ang Lee’s period drama ‘Sense and Sensibility’. The actress is starring in a couple of films in 2019 and 2020 and is working as a writer on Paul Feig’s romantic comedy ‘Last Christmas’, which is scheduled to release later this year. As far as the editor, composer and the cinematographer are concerned, all the three films have different people working. There has been no confirmation on who will work in the three departments. As there is no update on the crew of the fourth, we still have to wait for an official confirmation.
Bridget Jones 4 Release Date: When will it premiere?
Though the film has not been announced yet, it won’t be surprising if the fourth film is greenlit given the commercial success of the third. Over last 18 years, we have seen three Bridget films made. So, it is quite uncertain how much time will the fourth film take. If it gets commissioned in the next couple of years, Bridget Jones 4 could probably release sometime in 2022 or 2023. We will update this section as soon as we have an official update.
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