| Bridget Jones's Diary | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Sharon Maguire |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Jonathan Cavendish |
| Screenplay by | Andrew Davies Richard Curtis |
| Based on | Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding |
| Starring | Renée Zellweger Hugh Grant Colin Firth Jim Broadbent Gemma Jones |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Cinematography | Stuart Dryburgh |
| Editing by | Martin Walsh |
| Studio | StudioCanal Working Title Films |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films (US) Universal Pictures (Int'l) |
| Release date(s) | April 4, 2001 (UK premiere) April 13, 2001 (UK/US) October 10, 2001 (France) |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom Ireland France |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $26 million |
| Box office | $281,929,795 |
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 British romantic comedy film based on Helen Fielding's novel of the same name. 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, and Kate Winslet was 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 is widely considered to be of a high standard, including her English accent.
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" was played by Sally Phillips.
Zellweger was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film.
Contents |
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, this not being helped by his jumper with a huge reindeer. After a day beset by a series of mishaps, she misplaced her purse, broke her coffee mug and got stuck in a lift. When she returns home that evening, her shopping bags split. She reached to pull the curtains, only for them to fall off the wall; the was the final straw of a stressful day. When she catches sight of her svelte reflection in the window, she decided to turn her life around. She starts her own diary, which covers all her attempts to stop smoking, lose weight, and catch her Mr. Right.
Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work, first over e-mail. 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, emotional fuckwits 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 fallout, telling her that Mark broke their friendship by sleeping with his fiancée.
Daniel's dubious character becomes clearer and clearer to Bridget and eventually she 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 sparks 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 Bridget's faults, he likes her "just the way she is". He later helps Bridget to land a major interview for work, her quirky approach prompting the classic comment "Bridget Jones - already a legend". She begins to develop feelings for Mark. Just as Bridget and Mark's mutual attraction for each other comes together at a birthday dinner party hosted by Bridget, Daniel comes back into the picture temporarily claiming Bridget's attention. Mark originally leaves the party, but comes back to face Daniel. Mark punches Daniel and the two fight, which moves into a nearby restaurant where Mark and Daniel smash through the window, landing on the street. Mark wins the battle and knocks Daniel out. Bridget chides Mark, but afterwards, after an insensitive appeal by Daniel, she says emphatically that she doesn't want to be with him.
Bridget learns the truth about Mark and Daniel's fallout after her mother lets it out in conversation - that it was actually Daniel that had seduced Mark's wife.("It was the other way round - my wife, my heart"). 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, which clearly has an effect on Mark, as he realises her real meaning, 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 Bridget.
As they're about to kiss for the first time, Bridget exits to her bedroom to change her undergarments, remarking that it 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 a thin sweater and leopard skin-print underwear. Unable to find him and disheartened, she is about to return home when Mark appears holding a new diary, "to make a fresh start". They kiss in the snow-covered streets and the film closes.
Also, both Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer[1] have cameos in the film. Honor Blackman also has a cameo[2] as a party guest.
Pride and Prejudice writer Andrew Davies 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 Prejudice character.[4]
Bridget Jones's Diary was largely shot on location in London and the Home Counties. Bridget and Daniel ventured to the exclusive Stoke Park Club in Buckinghamshire for their mini-break, where they went rowing on the lake and stayed in the Pennsylvania Suite. 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' family.[5]
Bridget Jones received mostly positive reviews; review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film an 80% '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."[6]
Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 possible stars.[7]
The film's soundtrack was composed by Patrick Doyle.
It also features two hit songs which were released as singles, "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle and "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell.
|
|
| 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 A Funk Odyssey by Jamiroquai |
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.[8]
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.[9]
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||