Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 British romantic comedy film based on Helen Fielding's novel of the same name which is a reinterpretation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The adaptation stars Renee Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as the caddish Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Bridget's "true love", Mark Darcy. A sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film), was released in 2004.
Actresses who were considered for the role of Bridget Jones were Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Rachel Weisz and Cameron Diaz. Toni Collette declined the role because she was on Broadway starring in The Wild Party at the time. Kate Winslet was also considered, but the producers decided she was too young.
Before the film was released, a considerable amount of controversy surrounded the casting of the American Zellweger as what some saw as a quintessentially British heroine. However, her performance, including her English accent, is widely considered to be of a high standard.
The director of the film, Sharon Maguire, is one of Fielding's friends, on whom the character of Shazzer was reportedly based. In the film, Shazzer is played by Sally Phillips.
Zellweger was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film.
Contents
- 2 Cast
- 3 Location
- 4 Reception
- 5 Soundtrack
- 6 DVD and VHS release
- 7 Connection to Pride and Prejudice
- 8 Musical adaptation
- 9 See also
- 10 References
- 11 External links
Plot[edit]
Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is frustrated: she is in her early thirties, single, very accident prone and worried about her weight. She works in publicity at a book publishing company in London where her main focus is fantasizing about her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). At a New Year party hosted by her parents, she re-meets Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), the barrister son of her parents' friends. They had known each other as children. After their initial encounter, Mark thinks that Bridget is a fool and Bridget thinks that he is arrogant and rude, and is disgusted by his novelty Christmas jumper. After overhearing Mark grumble to his mother about her attempts to set him up with Bridget, she decides to turn her life around. She starts her own diary, which covers all her attempts to stop smoking, lose weight and find her Mr. Right.
Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work, first over email, ahead of an important book launch, at which Bridget bumps into Mark and his glamorous but haughty colleague Natasha (Embeth Davidtz),. Bridget leaves with Daniel and they have dinner, despite the fact that he is a notorious womanizer with a questionable personality, of which Bridget is aware. Bridget learns from Daniel that he and Mark have a history and, as a result, hate each other. Daniel informs Bridget of their falling-out, telling her that Mark broke their friendship by sleeping with his fiancée.
Bridget is invited to a family party, and she takes Daniel along as her 'plus one'. They spend the day before the party at a country house hotel, where Mark and Natasha are also staying. Daniel makes an excuse about not being able to attend, and sends Bridget to the party alone. His dubious character becomes clearer to Bridget and she eventually breaks off their relationship when she catches him with another woman, a colleague of his, Lara (Lisa Barbuscia). Bridget begins to search for a new job and after landing a job in television, quits her role at the publishing house without giving notice. Daniel makes a desperate attempt to convince Bridget to stay, only for her to retort that "I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse".
Bridget has a long-standing invitation to a friend's dinner party, where she is the only single person and distraught to see Mark and Natasha sat at the table. During the party, Mark privately confesses to Bridget that, despite her faults, he likes her "just the way she is". He later helps Bridget to achieve an exclusive TV interview in a landmark legal case.
Bridget begins to develop feelings for Mark, and he comes to her rescue at her birthday dinner party at her flat in Borough, which is she is disastrously attempting to cater for herself. Daniel drunkenly visits, temporarily claiming Bridget's attention. Mark leaves the party, but returns to face Daniel. Mark punches Daniel and the two fight. They end up in a nearby restaurant and finally smash through the window, landing on the street. Mark wins the battle and knocks Daniel out. Bridget chides Mark for being mean and he leaves, but after an insensitive appeal by Daniel, she also rejects him emphatically.
In the meantime, Bridget's mother, Pamela (Gemma Jones) temporarily leaves Bridget's father, Colin (Jim Broadbent) and begins an affair with a perma-tanned shopping channel presenter named Julian. After the affair is over and she has reconciled with Colin, she returns to the Jones family home and unintentionally reveals a truth: that Mark and Daniel's falling-out resulted from Daniel seducing Mark's wife, not the other way around, as Daniel had led Bridget to believe.
At the Darcys' ruby wedding anniversary party the same day, Bridget confesses her feelings for Mark, only to find out that he and Natasha are both leaving to accept jobs in New York. Bridget interrupts the toast to their pending engagement with a stuttering but moving speech about England losing one of its finest men. Her words clearly have an effect on Mark, but he still flies to New York, though with obvious misgivings. Bridget's friends rally to repair her broken heart with a surprise trip to Paris, and just as they are about to leave, Mark appears at Bridget's flat.
When they are about to kiss for the first time, Bridget goes to her bedroom to change into sexier underwear. While Bridget is changing, Mark peeks at her diary, in which she has written many insults about him. Bridget returns to find that he has left. Realizing that he had read her diary and that she might potentially lose him again, Bridget runs outside after him in the snow with a thin sweater and zebra skin-print underwear. Unable to find him, she is disheartened and is about to return home when Mark appears having bought a new diary for Bridget in order "to make a fresh start". They kiss in the snow-covered streets.
Cast[edit]
- Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones
- Colin Firth as Mark Darcy
- Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver
- Jim Broadbent as Mr. Colin Jones
- Gemma Jones as Mrs. Pamela Jones
- Celia Imrie as Una Alconbury
- James Faulkner as Uncle Geoffrey
- Shirley Henderson as Jude
- James Callis as Tom
- Lisa Barbuscia as Lara
- Charmian May as Mrs. Darcy
- Paul Brooke as Mr. "Tits pervert" Fitzherbert
- Sally Phillips as Shazza
- Embeth Davidtz as Natasha Glenville
- Patrick Barlow as Julian
- Felicity Montagu as Perpetua
- Donald Douglas as Admiral Darcy
- Dolly Wells as Woney
Also, Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer[1] have cameos in the film. Honor Blackman also has a cameo[2] as a party guest. Christopher Kouros also made an appearance as the singing Greek chef in the restaurant fight scene.
Andrew Davies, screenwriter of the 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, collaborated on the screenplays for the 2001 and 2004 Bridget Jones films, in which Crispin Bonham-Carter (Mr. Bingley) and Lucy Robinson (Mrs. Hurst) appeared in minor roles. The self-referential in-joke between the projects convinced Colin Firth to accept the role of Mark Darcy,[3] as it gave him an opportunity to ridicule and liberate himself from his Pride and Prejudicecharacter.[4]
Location[edit]
Bridget Jones's Diary was largely shot on location in London and the Home Counties. Bridget and Daniel ventured to Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire for their mini-break.[5] Stansted Airport doubled as JFK Airport in New York, while Syon House in Brentford featured as the venue for the anniversary party. Snowshill in Gloucestershire featured as the home of Bridget Jones's family.[6]
Reception[edit]
Bridget Jones received mostly positive reviews. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film an 81% 'Fresh' rating, with the consensus "Though there was controversy over the choice of casting, Zellweger's Bridget Jones is a sympathetic, likable, funny character, giving this romantic comedy a lot of charm."[7]
Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 possible stars.[8]
Soundtrack[edit]
Bridget Jones's Diary: Music From The Motion Picture[edit]
| Bridget Jones's Diary: Music From The Motion Picture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1]
UK cover | ||||
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | April 3, 2001 | |||
| Genre | Mixed | |||
| Length | 59:54 | |||
| Label |
US Universal | |||
| Producer | Nick Angel | |||
| Various artists chronology | ||||
| ||||
| [2]
US cover | ||||
The film's soundtrack was composed by Patrick Doyle.
It also features two hit songs that were released as singles, "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle and "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell.
Track listing[edit]
Worldwide Edition
- "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle
- "Respect" by Aretha Franklin
- "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell
- "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by Robbie Williams
- "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
- "Don't Get Me Wrong" by The Pretenders (UK bonus track)
- "Kiss That Girl" by Sheryl Crow
- "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne
- "Someone Like You" by Dina Carroll
- "Not of This Earth" by Robbie Williams
- "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Andy Williams (UK bonus track)
- "Love" by Rosey
- "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" by Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
- "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne
- "It's Only a Diary" by Patrick Doyle
- "Pretender Got My Heart" by Alisha's Attic
- "All by Myself" by Jamie O'Neal
- "Woman Trouble" by Artful Dodger & Robbie Craig featuring Craig David (UK bonus track)
- "Ring Ring Ring" by Aaron Soul
- "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension
- U.S. Edition
- "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne
- "Kiss That Girl" by Sheryl Crow
- "Love" by Rosey
- "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by Robbie Williams
- "All by Myself" by Jamie O'Neal
- "Just Perfect" by Tracy Bonham
- "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne
- "Not Of This Earth" by Robbie Williams
- "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle
- "Someone Like You" by Dina Carroll
- "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell
- "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" by Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
- "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
- "Pretender Got My Heart" by Alisha's Attic
- "It's Only a Diary" by Patrick Doyle
- Soundtrack chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Australian ARIA Albums Chart | 1 |
| 2001 | UK Albums Chart | 2 |
| Preceded by
Moulin Rouge! by Various artists |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
13 August – 9 September 2001 17–23 September 2001 |
Succeeded by |
Bridget Jones's Diary 2: More Music from the Motion Picture and Other V.G. Songs[edit]
| Bridget Jones's Diary 2: More Music from the Motion Picture and Other V.G. Songs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [3]
CD cover | ||||
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | October 29, 2001 | |||
| Genre | Mixed | |||
| Length | 72:53 | |||
| Label | Mercury Records | |||
| Producer | Dave Allen | |||
| Various artists chronology | ||||
| ||||
Track listing[edit]
- "Me and Mrs. Jones" by The Dramatics
- "Someone Like You" by Van Morrison
- "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" by En Vogue
- "My Funny Valentine" by Elvis Costello
- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross
- "Yes" by McAlmont and Butler
- "Woman" by Neneh Cherry
- "Without You" by Nilsson
- "Do What You Gotta Do" by Nina Simone
- "Say What You Want" by Texas
- "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
- "Out of Reach (Acoustic Version)" by Gabrielle)
- "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles
- "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
- "Waterfalls" by TLC
- "Angels" by Robbie Williams
- "It Should Have Been Me" by Yvonne Fair
- "Ooo Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
- "I Don't Want to Talk About It" by Dina Carroll
- "Passionate Kisses" by Mary Chapin Carpenter
DVD and VHS release[edit]
The VHS was released in 2001 containing over 35 minutes of bonus material which includes; Deleted Scenes, Exclusive Interviews Bridget’s Guide to “Getting It Right”. There was also a VHS of "The Making of Bridget Jones". In 2001 the film was released on DVD containing brand new bonus material and in 2011 a Blu-ray version of the film was released.
Connection to Pride and Prejudice[edit]
Fielding has stated in many interviews that her novel was based upon both Jane Austen's work Pride and Prejudice and its popular 1995 BBC adaptation. This was also reflected in the decision to cast Colin Firth as Darcy, since he played the 'real' Mr. Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. This is not the film's only connection to that serial – the screenplay was co-written by Andrew Davies, who had written the adaptation of Austen's novel for the BBC.[9]
Musical adaptation[edit]
Main article: Bridget Jones' Diary (musical)
The film version is currently being adapted into a musical, set to hit London's West End in 2011. British musician Lily Allen has written the score and lyrics, and Stephen Daldry, best known for his Tony award-winning work on the West End and Broadway productions of Billy Elliot, will be directing, joined by his co-worker Peter Darling, who will serve as choreographer.
An official cast for the production has not yet been announced, but workshops for the show have already begun with television actress and current star of Legally Blonde, Sheridan Smith, in the title role.