Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant Usher in Bridget Jones’ Final Chapter at World Premiere of ‘Mad About the Boy’
There may have been some flustering over certain new additions to the Bridget Jones cast Wednesday night (ahem, looking at you, Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor), but most of the love was thrown right at Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant.
The pair, who first starred in the movie adaptations of Helen Fielding’s wildly popular novels in 2001, arrived on the pink carpet in London’s Leicester Square for the world premiere of the fourth and final chapter in Jones’ diary, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
While Colin Firth and Emma Thompson were notably missing from the ensemble, their absence was soon made up for by the presence of the likes of Shirley Henderson, Celia Imrie, Gemma Jones and Sarah Solemani, alongside rising star Woodall and seasoned pro Ejiofor.
The last ride on Bridget’s journey sees her wrestle with grief four years after Mark Darcy was killed while on a humanitarian trip in Sudan. It’s made far less easy by their two children, Billy and Mabel, who are fast growing up in a world without their father in it.
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Thankfully, as Bridget pledges to live life to the fullest once more, a dashing 29-year-old Roxster (Woodall) comes along and gives her a summer of pure distraction. Elsewhere, the chemistry between science teacher Mr Wallaker (Ejiofor) and Bridget is only getting more electric, and Zellweger’s character comes to understand that life isn’t something she can do alone. Even if, in the wake of Mark’s death, she wants to be able to. Grant’s Daniel Cleaver, who definitively did not die in a plane crash as suggested in Bridget Jones’ Baby (2016), is as outrageous as ever.
And Zellweger revisits her most iconic character as though the two had never parted. “She’s the most generous, the most open, the most humble and the most alive person to work with,” director Michael Morris said of his titular star before the film screened. “I think everyone who worked with her would say the same thing. And that essence is why these films, I think, have endured the way they have.”
He continued: “You brought this wonderful character to life, embodied every single moment of her in the film and it has been that way for 25 years. It’s been a joy of a lifetime.”
Morris couldn’t leave the stage without paying tribute to a myriad of people involved in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy including Fielding, composer Dustin O’Halloran, producer Jo Wallett and cinematographer Suzie Lavelle.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy releases in theaters Feb. 13.
