Bridget Jones's Diary Information

Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 English 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 Renée 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, 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 whom the character of Shazzer was reportedly based on. 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.

Plot

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is frustrated: she is in her early thirties, still 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 jumper with a huge reindeer. After a day beset by a series of mishaps, she misplaces her purse, breaks her coffee mug and gets stuck in a lift. When she returns home that evening, her shopping bags split. She reaches to pull the curtains, only for them to fall off the wall. That is the final straw of a stressful day. When she catches sight of her reflection in the window, 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. After a book launch, they start a relationship, despite the fact that he is a notorious womanizer with a questionable personality, of which Bridget is aware, from when stating earlier in the film that she will not form relationships with alcoholics, workaholics, peeping-toms, megalomaniacs, or perverts. 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.

Daniel's dubious character becomes clearer and clearer to Bridget and she eventually breaks off their relationship when she catches him with another woman, a colleague of his, Lara (Lisa Barbuscia). After a spectacular departure from the office, in which Daniel's desperate attempts to make Bridget stay spark the comment "I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse", she finds a new job in television.

She and Mark have run-ins at a bed and breakfast and at a mutual friend's dinner party. During the party, Mark, who has come to the dinner with his colleague, Natasha (Embeth Davidtz), privately confesses to Bridget that, despite her faults, he likes her "just the way she is". He later helps Bridget to achieve an important interview for work, in which her quirky approach prompts the classic comment "Bridget Jones - already a legend". She begins to develop feelings for Mark. Just as Bridget and Mark's mutual attraction comes together at a birthday dinner party hosted by Bridget, Daniel comes back, temporarily claiming Bridget's attention. Mark originally 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 afterwards, after an insensitive appeal by Daniel, she says emphatically that she doesn't want to be with him.

In the meantime, Bridget's mother, Pamela Jones (Gemma Jones) temporarily leaves Bridget's father, Colin Jones (Jim Broadbent) and sees a Portuguese jeweller, named Julian. After having returned to the family commune and having apologised to Colin, she tells Bridget the truth about Mark and Daniel's falling-out - that it was actually Daniel who had seduced Mark's wife. At a dinner 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 halting but moving speech about England losing one of its finest men. Her words clearly have an effect on Mark, as he realises what she really means, but he still flies to New York, though with obvious misgivings. Just as Bridget starts to embark on a trip to Paris with her friends to mend her broken heart, Mark returns to stay with her.

When they are about to kiss for the first time, Bridget goes to her bedroom to change her undergarments, remarking that this is "an occasion for genuinely tiny knickers." 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 and the film comes to an end.

Cast

• Renée 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

Also, Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer have cameos in the film. Honor Blackman also has a cameo as a party guest.

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, as it gave him an opportunity to ridicule and liberate himself from his Pride and Prejudice character.

Location

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. 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.

Reception

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."

Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 possible stars.

Soundtrack

Bridget Jones's Diary: Music From The Motion Picture

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

Worldwide Edition

1. "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle
2. "Respect" by Aretha Franklin
3. "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell
4. "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by Robbie Williams
5. "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
6. "Don't Get Me Wrong" by The Pretenders (UK bonus track)
7. "Kiss That Girl" by Sheryl Crow
8. "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne
9. "Someone Like You" by Dina Carroll
10. "Not of This Earth" by Robbie Williams
11. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Andy Williams (UK bonus track)
12. "Love" by Rosey
13. "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" by Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
14. "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne
15. "It's Only a Diary" by Patrick Doyle
16. "Pretender Got My Heart" by Alisha's Attic
17. "All by Myself" by Jamie O'Neal
18. "Woman Trouble" by Artful Dodger & Robbie Craig featuring Craig David
19. "Ring Ring Ring" by Aaron Soul
20. "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension

U.S. Edition

1. "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne
2. "Kiss That Girl" by Sheryl Crow
3. "Love" by Rosey
4. "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by Robbie Williams
5. "All by Myself" by Jamie O'Neal
6. "Just Perfect" by Tracy Bonham
7. "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne
8. "Not Of This Earth" by Robbie Williams
9. "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle
10. "Someone Like You" by Dina Carroll
11. "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell
12. "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" by Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
13. "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
14. "Pretender Got My Heart" by Alisha's Attic
15. "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

Bridget Jones's Diary 2: More Music from the Motion Picture and Other V.G. Songs

Track listing

1. "Me and Mrs. Jones" by The Dramatics
2. "Someone Like You" by Van Morrison
3. "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" by En Vogue
4. "My Funny Valentine" by Elvis Costello
5. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross
6. "Yes" by McAlmont and Butler
7. "Woman" by Neneh Cherry
8. "Without You" by Nilsson
9. "Do What You Gotta Do" by Nina Simone
10. "Say What You Want" by Texas
11. "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
12. "Out of Reach (Acoustic Version)" by Gabrielle)
13. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles
14. "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
15. "Waterfalls" by TLC
16. "Angels" by Robbie Williams
17. "It Should Have Been Me" by Yvonne Fair
18. "Ooo Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
19. "I Don't Want to Talk About It" by Dina Carroll
20. "Passionate Kisses" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Connection to Pride and Prejudice

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.

Musical adaptation

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.

See also

• "My Lovely Sam Soon", a Korean series with some thematic and narrative similarities
• Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the sequel