Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy - What We Know About the Fourth Installment

The finishing touches to the highly-anticipated next Bridget Jones film appear to be taking place, as Renée Zellweger was spotted filming with her younger on-screen lover Leo Woodall in Borough Market on Friday.

The actress, 55, who has played the titular character in the past three films, has been filming the fourth instalment, Mad About The Boy, in London since May.

Production company, Working Title, confirmed earlier this month that the movie will hit cinemas on Valentine’s Day next year and said that filming had finally wrapped.

However, it seems that there were still some more crucial shots to finish, as Renée and One Day star Leo, 27, were seen shooting a romantic date night scene last week.

The upcoming film sees Leo play a hunky toyboy named Roxster who Bridget enjoys a fling with after meeting on social media.

The pair were laughing together while strolling past Bridget’s iconic flat above The Globe Tavern, where the character lived in the first films.

The street outside was famously the site for the iconic fight between Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver in the first film as they vied for Bridget’s affections.

However, The Mail on Sunday previously revealed that Bridget will give up her famous bachelorette pad in favour of a family home in leafy Hampstead, North London, where many scenes have been filmed in the past few months.

As the production finally wraps up at last, here is everything we know so far about the much-anticipated return of the beloved diarist.

The actress, 55, who has played the titular character in the past three films, has been filming the fourth instalment, Mad About The Boy , in London since May (pictured in Edge of Reason)

As the production finally wraps up at last, here is everything we know so far about the much-anticipated return of the beloved diarist

What is it about?

The fourth instalment in the acclaimed franchise is based on the book of the same name by Helen Fielding.

The most recent film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby, saw Bridget shocked when she discovered she was pregnant.

It ended with her marrying Mark, the high-flying lawyer who she’d had on and off feelings for across the three movies, and revealed that he was the father to her baby.

However, in Mad About The Boy, Mark tragically later dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and the book follows her as she battles motherhood alone.

She also quits her job working in television to do the school run, with comical scenes expected as she struggles to keep up with the Yummy Mummies.

Bridget will also find herself in the middle of a three-way battle for her affections, between boytoy Roxster, PE teacher Mr. Wallaker and a returning Daniel Cleaver.

The movie was officially confirmed this year, with the script being penned by author Helen, Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer, and Michael Morris as director.

Helen has also been spotted at the filming as she prepares to say goodbye to the much-loved character.

A movie source told The Mail On Sunday in February: ‘Bridget is back and is about to take over London. Filming is being mapped out already…

‘All of the pre- production is in place. There was some uncertainty about whether it would get off the ground, but the movie is coming…

‘Renee is excited about bringing Bridget back. She adores the character so much. Bridget Jones fever is expected to sweep across London this spring.’

When asked about a fourth movie instalment, author Helen previously told Radio Times: ‘Every film that gets made is a miracle…

‘I think it’s really difficult to make films and to make them happen and to make them good and we want it to be really good. But I really hope so. I’d love to see it on the screen.’

There were rumours last year the movie had been axed due to the US actors’ strikes, but sources said those claims were ‘nonsense’.

The first film, Bridget Jones’s Diary, came out in 2001 and grossed £222 million at the box office – more than ten times what it cost to make.

The most recent film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby, saw Bridget shocked when she discovered she was pregnant and ended with her marrying Mark Darcy (pictured)

However, in Mad About The Boy, Mark tragically later dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and the book follows her as she battles motherhood alone

Bridget will also find herself in the middle of a three-way battle for her affections, between boytoy Roxster, PE teacher Mr. Wallaker and a returning Daniel Cleaver

Who is returning to their roles?

As well as Renee and Hugh returning to their roles, fans will get to see the familiar faces of Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones back as Bridget’s batty parents, Colin and Pamela.

Bridget’s three best pals Sharon, Jude and Tom are also coming back, played respectively by Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis.

Reprising her role from the third film is Sarah Solemani, as Bridget’s friend Miranda and news presenter at Hard News, while Emma Thompson will also be appearing as Doctor Rawlings once again.

After Colin Firth’s name was absent from the cast list, fans feared his character would not appear at all in the fourth film, as his character Mark is killed off in the book.

However, The Mail on Sunday has revealed Colin will still be making an appearance in the film, after revealing exclusive photographs from the set last month where Renee is seen lovingly interacting with The King’s Speech star.

Wearing Mark’s trademark suit and tie, Colin tenderly places his hand upon the cheek of his co-star, who is in an emerald dress and leather boots.

It was revealed that Colin’s return was meant to be a huge surprise, with film bosses desperate to keep it under wraps.

A source said: ‘Colin was always going to appear in the movie but it was supposed to be a secret.’

In the last movie, Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016, Bridget is seen attending the memorial of her other on-off love Daniel, who is presumed dead after a plane crash, but is later found alive.

Fans will have to be patient to find out whether Mark will be so lucky, or is simply appearing in a dream sequence.

As well as Renee and Hugh returning to their roles, fans will get to see the familiar faces of Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones back as Bridget’s batty parents, Colin and Pamela (pictured)

Reprising her role from the third film is Sarah Solemani, as Bridget’s friend Miranda and news presenter at Hard News (pictured)

Bridget’s three best pals Sharon, Jude and Tom are also coming back, played respectively by Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis, while Emma Thompson will also be appearing as Doctor Rawlings once again (pictured)

The Mail on Sunday has revealed Colin will still be making an appearance in the film, after revealing exclusive photographs from the set last month where Renee is seen lovingly interacting with The King’s Speech star

Who is joining the cast?

As well as the returning favourites, a host of big names have been added to the cast of the film.

As well as Leo starring as one of Bridget’s lovers, Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor will also be playing a romantic interest.

The actor will star as Mr. Wallaker the handsome PE teacher at her children’s school and he was seen filming a camping scene alongside Renee last month at the Lake District in Keswick.

The Last of Us’s Nico Parker is playing the children’s babysitter, Chloe, while I Hate Suzie star Leila Farzad has been seen on set in her role as Nicolette.

Isla Fisher has also landed a major role in the film, playing Bridget’s neighbour and new pal, Rebecca.

She has been seen filming several different scenes in a vast array of quirky and eye-catching outfits.

It was reported that Isla channelled all her energy into the movie following her split from her husband Sacha Baron Cohen after 14 years of marriage.

According to WHO Magazine, the actress is drawing from her own personal experience to bring authenticity and depth to her character.

‘Isla’s real-life is inspiring her,’ a source told the publication. ‘She’s drawing on her own experiences and channeling them into this character.’

A source echoed to The Sun: ‘Isla’s real life is inspiring her new role in the Bridget Jones film.

‘She plays a single mother who befriended Bridget at the school gates. Isla loves Bridget Jones and is thrilled that she landed the part.

‘Her own experience will help her in the role and it’s great she’s landed such a big part after a really tough time.’

Renee has also been spotted filming alongside two young child actors who are playing her and Mark’s kids, son Billy and daughter Mabel.

The upcoming film sees Leo Woodall (pictured last month) play a hunky toyboy named Roxster who Bridget enjoys a fling with after meeting on social media

Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor will star as Mr. Wallaker the handsome PE teacher at her children’s school and he was seen filming a camping scene alongside Renee last month at the Lake District in Keswick (pictured in June)

Isla Fisher has also landed a major role in the film, playing Bridget’s neighbour and new pal, Rebecca and has been seen filming several different scenes in a vast array of quirky and eye-catching outfits (pictured in June)

What can fans expect?

A teaser trailer for the film has already debuted in cinemas, to those moviegoers watching newly released film, It Ends With Us.

According to Digital Spy, the trailer sees Renee’s Bridget juggling single parenting with the support of Sharon, Jude and Tom.

While Emma Thompson can be seen back in her role as Dr Rawlings, while asking a frazzled Bridget if she is okay.

While Hugh makes a memorable appearance as playboy Daniel, playing the unlikely role of babysitter to Bridget’s two kids.

He is seen knocking up a cocktail that he names a ‘dirty b***h’, before taking a sip and amending it to a ‘filthy b***h’ instead, in reference to one of his famous lines in the original film.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that Renee spent four days filming at ITV’s studios in White City, West London, where programmes such as This Morning and Loose Women are made.

There she met presenters from both shows, including Cat Deeley who was said to have been ‘super excited’ at seeing her.

Many studio staff were ‘overcome with excitement’ and desperate to get selfies with the Hollywood star when they realised that the movie was being filmed at their workplace.

Scenes were recorded on the set used by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for their now defunct show Saturday Night Takeaway, while audience members from Loose Women were also asked to stay for filming of some scenes.

One source at ITV said: ‘It was chaos, imagine having Bridget come to your work. It was literally a dream come true. The place was absolutely buzzing. Word got round so fast, Cat was so excited.’

Earlier this year, star Hugh sent expectations for the film sky-high as he teased that it was going to be the ‘best one’ yet and had already moved him to ‘tears’.

The actor, 63, played lothario Daniel in the first two hit films, 2001′s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2004′s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, but skipped 2016′s Bridget Jones’s Baby.

His character was written out by being killed off in a plane crash, however a newspaper headline teased at the end that he was actually found alive.

Returning to the franchise in Mad About The Boy, Hugh told ET: ‘I’ll tell you what, I think this script for the fourth Bridget is the best one of the four. And, in fact, one of the best scripts I have read for in a long time.’

He continued: ‘It’s based on trying to bring up two children alone, and then [it’s] all mixed up in the Bridget Jones [style] comedy, so its very sad, as well as very funny. It has me in tears.’

Hugh added: ‘It just suddenly sprang out of, you know, Helen writing another book. Hopefully, we’re not too ancient. I don’t do much now, I’ve just got a few scenes’.

It has also been revealed that the lovable main character’s obsession with losing weight will be ‘played down’ in the film amid protests that it is outdated and could be a negative influence.

Bridget was routinely fat-shamed in both the original books and the first film, despite weighing just over 61 kg – the same size as the average British woman at the time.

In one moment of narration, Bridget displayed her negative body image, as she reflected: ‘I suddenly realised that unless something changed soon, I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine and I’d finally die fat and alone and be found three weeks later eaten by Alsatians or I was about to turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.’

In another scene, Daniel’s new girlfriend can be heard saying: ‘I thought you said she was thin’, while a third sees Bridget’s friend reply: ‘Just as you are? Not thinner? Not cleverer?’ when Bridget reveals Mark said he likes her just as she is.

In one of the actual movie posters, the following was listed above a picture of Renée posing as Bridget: ‘Go to the gym three times a week. Don’t flirt with boss. Reduce thighs. Learn to love thighs. Forget about thighs. Stop making lists.’

The core premise was that Bridget is fat and Renee hit the headlines for gaining just over two stone to play the character.

The actress admitted to struggling to gain the weight for the role and was reported to be on a 4,000-calorie-per-day diet to reach the target quickly.

She told The New York Times: ‘I’d have an omelette with cheese and sauce for breakfast with a fatty yoghurt and then a fruit salad with a topping and juice and coffee and cream and a bagel with butter and a few hours later a chocolate shake with weight-gain powder in it.’

Renee repeated the weight gain process to play the diarist in the The Edge of Reason after losing the two stone she’d put on for the first film.

Speaking to Closer magazine at the time she said: ‘It would be silly if Bridget was talking about her chubby thighs and they weren’t chubby.’

In 2016, Renee revealed that while she wanted to gain weight for the third movie, the idea was rejected by directors.

She explained writers wanted Bridget Jones’s Baby to show her on-screen character had ‘achieved her ideal weight’.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Renee revealed: ‘Sharon was hoping we could show that Bridget had achieved her ideal weight, but at the same time it didn’t mean her life was perfect.

‘I wasn’t sure about that one though because we all have something we think is wrong, that needs fixing, that in our own minds represents the ideal that we are meant to obtain. And I like the idea that that stays with us throughout our lives.’

During an interview with British Vogue, Renee explained her character in the third film was a ‘perfectly normal weight’.

‘I put on a few pounds. I also put on some breasts and a baby bump,’ the actress laughed.

‘Bridget is a perfectly normal weight and I’ve never understood why it matters so much. No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same thing for a role.’

Bridget’s weight was also referenced constantly in her diary entries in Fielding’s original books, something that was resolutely carried over into the films, the exception being the third movie, in which the character of Bridget is pregnant.

But there are even references there; a friend of Bridget’s mother Pamela congratulates her on her surprise pregnancy, saying: ‘Wonderful, we thought you’d just got all fat again.’

However, it is thought that the fourth film will be the first time that Renee has not put on pounds for the role.

While Bridget’s obsession with her weight will no longer be a focus, with her taking up Zumba and as a size 10 won’t panic over putting on a pound or two, as she has done before.

A source involved with the film said: ‘We wil
l be more reflective of what people think about body image these days. Letting go of Bridget’s weight obsession is seen as the right thing to do.’

According to Digital Spy , the trailer sees Renee’s Bridget juggling single parenting with the support of Sharon, Jude and Tom

While Hugh makes a memorable appearance as playboy Daniel, playing the unlikely role of babysitter to Bridget’s two kids

Earlier this year, star Hugh sent expectations for the film sky-high as he teased that it was going to be the ‘best one’ yet and had already moved him to ‘tears’ (pictured in May)

The actor, 63, played lothario Daniel in the first two hit films, 2001′s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2004′s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (pictured), but skipped 2016′s Bridget Jones’s Baby

It has also been revealed that the lovable main character’s obsession with losing weight will be ‘ played down’ in the film amid protests that it is outdated and could be a negative influence

Bridget was routinely fat-shamed in both the original books and the first film, despite weighing just over 61 kg – the same size as the average British woman at the time

The core premise was that Bridget is fat and Renee hit the headlines for gaining just over two stone to play the character (pictured in 2021)

In the new film Bridget’s obsession with her weight will no longer be a focus, with her taking up Zumba and as a size 10 won’t panic over putting on a pound or two, as she has done before.

What has been happening behind-the-scenes?

While there has been lots of excitement for the movie, it has also hit the headlines several times due to controversy.

The sequel reportedly drove a slew of residents and celebrities mad while production took place in London.

It was alleged that stars including Harry Styles and Rami Malek who live near where filming took place were not too happy with shooting schedule.

According to The Sun, film bosses have put letters through the doors of local residents asking them to only come and go at certain times to not interfere with filming.

A source said: ‘The film is causing chaos in this part of North London where they are shooting a lot of the film.

‘Neighbourhoods with stars such as Harry, Rami, Ricky Gervais and Rowan Atkinson, living there are all getting letters from the production about not interrupting shots.’

The letters reportedly ask residents to either leave their homes during filming or not to come and go while the cameras are rolling.

The insider added: ‘It’s like they’re being held hostage by Bridget — and it’s driving everyone mad.’

Meanwhile in June, filming was said to have been ‘thrown into chaos’ after an important cast member got injured.

According to reports, the actor suffered a nasty injury away from set and was later taken to hospital where they were told they had a broken bone.

The injury is said to have had a domino effect as producers are unable to continue filming until the unnamed cast member recovers.

‘It’s a total disaster. This has all been so devastating for the entire cast and all the hardworking staff who were down to work’, a source told The Sun.

‘They’d been due to shoot some of the film’s most important scenes and then they suffered this setback after a really unfortunate accident.

‘Filming for the scenes might not start again until at least July, so the schedule has taken a hit. They’ve got a tight window, especially with having to work around the busy diaries of A-listers.’

According to the insider, filming was next set to take place at Petersham Nurseries restaurant in Richmond to shoot a garden party scene.

But everything soon got back on track and production company, Working Title, shared an update to X this month, saying filming had wrapped.

A photo uploaded to their account shows a director’s chair in front of the iconic character’s Borough Market home with The Globe Tavern seen in the background, with the caption: ‘That’s a wrap. See you on Valentine’s Day’.

While there has been lots of excitement for the movie, it has also hit the headlines several times due to controversy. The sequel reportedly drove a slew of residents and celebrities mad while production took place in London

Meanwhile in June, filming was said to have been ‘thrown into chaos’ after an important cast member got injured. According to reports, the actor suffered a nasty injury away from set and was later taken to hospital where they were told they had a broken bone