AUTHOR NEWS
Get set for some more Bridget Jones. Author Helen Fielding has confirmed that she is writing the third instalment after Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2000). News about the novel comes as Renee Zellweger, who played Bridget in the 2001 and 2004 movies, has indicated she would sign on for a third movie – after being promised she doesn’t have to put weight on for the role! Fielding read the first few pages of the new diary – 11 years after the last one was published - to an audience in London this week, saying she liked the idea of Bridget facing a mid-life crisis. “I will be working on both the book and the film but I don’t know if they’re the same thing yet. It’s not been decided,” she said. Oscar winner Colin Firth recently said about a return to his Mr Darcy role: “I think the idea of Mark and Daniel and Bridget in advanced stages of deterioration could be quite fun. We’re making a comedy after all.” Meanwhile Bridget Jones the musical is still in development, with Lily Allen a possible musical contributor.
You’ve seen the two Bridget Jones movies; been waiting patiently to see if Bridget Jones 3 is a goer and plan to be first in line for the musical in 2011. Now it seems our favourite singleton is heading for the small screen. Media reports this week suggest American network NBC has plans to do a weekly TV show after announcing a partnership with British movie company Working Title, who made the films starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
According to Variety, the third big-screen instalment of the Bridget Jones series is in development through Working Title. Insiders expect Renee Zellweger to return to her role as the loveable heroine. It will likely be based on the newspaper columns that author Helen Fielding wrote continuing the story after the sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, in which Bridget, now in her 40s, attempts to have a baby before it's too late. Turn away now if you don't want to know how Bridget's story ends in the column. Still torn between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy, in the last entry she gives birth to a boy, fathered by Daniel.