Hugh Grant
He had doubts about Renée Zellweger's casting as "Bridget Jones"
Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger at the 2001 premiere of Bridget Jones Chocolate For Breakfast.
© Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com
Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger celebrated great success with the "Bridget Jones" series. At first, however, the Briton had his doubts.
Almost 20 years ago Renée Zellweger (51, "Judy") was seen for the first time in her star role as the somewhat clumsy Brit "Bridget Jones" in the first part of the series, "Chocolate for Breakfast" (2001). Since then she has played the popular character two more times – in "On the Edge of Wahnsinns" (2004) and "Bridget Jones' Baby" (2016). Her film partner Hugh Grant (60, "Notting Hill") now revealed in the new BBC2 documentary "Being Bridget Jones" that he was not one hundred percent convinced of her cast at the beginning. The reason: Zellweger's Texan roots.
She sounded like Princess Margaret
"There was a scandal, 'Why isn't it a British actress?'", The 60-year-old recalled according to "Variety" on the show. He himself didn't know Zellweger at the time and said: "A Texan who plays a British character, that seemed pretty far-fetched."
Grant, who plays the notorious cheater Daniel Cleaver in the series, then found the American's first attempt to speak with a British accent to be "good". As the magazine "Elle" writes, he was at the same time startled by its similarity to the speech of the late Princess Margaret (1930-2002) – the sister of Queen Elizabeth II (94). Zellweger was then advised to loosen up a little, at which point she pronounced a perfect accent a week later.
Modern version of "Pride and Prejudice"
The "Bridget Jones" films are based on the novel "Bridget Jones' Diary" by author Helen Fielding (62). The plot is similar to a modern version of the literary classic "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen (1775-1817). Alongside Zellweger and Grant, British actor Colin Firth (60, "Kingsman: The Secret Service") is one of the leading actors. He embodies the lawyer Mark Darcy, who, like Grant's character Cleaver, also vies for Bridget's favor.