Renée Zellweger Embraces a Up-to-date Era of Bridget Jones—and Hollywood Itself

Two modern prospects enter Bridget’s life in Mad About the Boy. The first is White Lotus breakout Leo Woodall as Roxster McDuff, a 29-year-old park ranger who proves to be more than a May-December fling. The other is Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mr. Wallaker, a no-nonsense science teacher at Bridget’s children’s school. But unlike Bridget’s past films, dating here is secondary to her role as a mother to her elementary-aged children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). Knopf, who skillfully mimics Firth’s soulful, soft-spoken nature, “is just a pro already,” she says. As for Jankovic: “If you were to conjure Bridget’s child, there she is. She’s the manifestation, surely. Her energy and her joie de vivre—she’s a whirling dervish of wonderful.”

Bridget has changed since the early aughts, but Zellweger’s commitment to the role has never wavered. “I just feel really lucky to have shared another round in Bridget’s world with people and this character that I love so much,” she says. “It’s such an unusual opportunity to revisit a character and discover her anew.”

In the years since her husband’s sudden death, Bridget Jones has been on autopilot. Then, she’s reminded of advice from her slow father, played by Jim Broadbent via flashback in Mad About the Boy. “It’s not enough to survive: You have to live,” he tells her. It’s those words that rouse Bridget from her grief and renew her zest for modern experiences. Zellweger knows this feeling well: She, too, made the decision to live more life when she took a self-imposed break from acting in 2010. After six years away from the spotlight, “I recognized myself again, when I had a life instead of just a profession,” she told Vanity Fair in 2020. “When I had friends who I saw on a regular basis.”

I ask Zellweger if she ever seriously considered giving up acting. “That’s an interesting question that I don’t think that I’d even asked myself,” she says, considering her next words. “I mean, if that’s what needed to happen, and if that’s where the journey led, then okay. But I wasn’t really making any plans. I was just acknowledging what was necessary at the time to feel like I could grow a little bit.”

Zellweger says the work “certainly” felt different after her hiatus. She can appreciate the symmetry of playing Bridget two times before the pause and twice more afterwards, but doesn’t seem especially eager to delve into how the experiences differed. Perhaps keeping some things close to the vest is another lesson learned during Zellweger’s interlude.

Gaining some perspective paid off, according to Leo Woodall. He calls Zellweger “the warmest person in the world,” telling VF: “She’s carrying this whole thing on her back, so I wanted part of my job to be serving whatever she needs.” The feeling was mutual. “Isn’t Leo wonderful?” Zellweger asks in her gentle Southern twang. “I so look forward to watching where his career leads him—such a gifted actor and a wonderful person.”

Zellweger doesn’t take the responsibility of leading a set lightly. “I’ve worked with some of the most talented and highly revered filmmakers in the world. And the unconditional kindness of a lot of the number ones that I’ve had the good fortune to get to know really left an impression,” she says. “I recognize the work for what it is. It’s a blessing. You’re lucky to get to do what you love as a profession, and it’s a miracle every time a project makes its way into production. It doesn’t work without the contribution of every single person on that set. So the collaboration, it’s essential, and that’s my favorite thing about the experience of storytelling.”

While on her break from acting, Zellweger studied screenwriting, but has no current plans to pen a Bridget adventure of her own “This [story] is very specific to Helen’s experiences. She shares her own most intimate life moments through the character of Bridget, so authorship belongs to her alone,” Zellweger says. “I feel lucky as an interpretive artist to come in and take what’s there and bring it to life.” What about another project? “Sure. Yeah, there’s some different experiences I’d like to have in the future,” she says coyly.

And though there is a finality to Bridget’s journey in Mad About the Boy, Zellweger hasn’t ruled out a return, either. “Everybody who’s involved feels such affection for this character and wants to protect the integrity of the experience,” she says. “That Helen might want to tell more stories through the character…I’d feel really lucky about that.”

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