Hilariously flawed and relatable London singleton Bridget Jones may be the role American actress Renée Zellweger is most often associated with.
With three Bridget Jones films — and a fourth rumored to be on the way — it's hard to imagine another star in the role of chain-smoking, weight-obsessed Bridget. Yet, when it was first announced that the film adaptation of Helen Fielding novel Bridget Jones's Diary had cast a Texan actress, not everyone was on board with it.
6 Why Nobody Wanted An American Cast In Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones is said to be a quintessentially British heroine, which is why fans of the book and some media outlets in the UK were concerned when Zellweger beat British actresses for the role.
Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz, as well as Australian star Toni Collette and more were considered for the part, which ultimately went to a Texan actress who wasn't exactly a big name at the time.
By the early 2000s, Zellweger had starred opposite Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire and Chris O'Donnell in The Bachelor, as well as Jim Carrey in Me, Myself & Irene, directed by the Farrelly brothers. Arguably, the role of Bridget skyrocketed Zellweger's popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, earning her an Oscar nod and BAFTA nomination, meaning that the Brits, too, were ultimately sold on her portrayal of Bridget.
"There was a whole scandal about why isn't this a British actress? I didn't know Renée Zellweger, and a Texan playing a British character, it did seem like a stretch," Bridget Jones's Diary star Hugh Grant said in the 2020 documentary, Being Bridget Jones.
After he had met her, however, Grant said Zellweger was "bang-on" and that the film would be a "triumph".
5 Bridget Jones's Diary Director Instantly Knew Zellweger Was The One
Despite knowing that she may face backlash, director Sharon Maguire thought Zellweger was the perfect fit for the role of Bridget.
"I figured that when [the right actress] walked in the room, we'd know," Maguire told Total Film in October 2000.
"She did walk in the room, and we did know. And we went, 'Oh f**k, she's a Texan.'"
“She's got this inner irreverence, and she's got this innocence and vulnerable exterior," the director also said of Zellweger.
"She also has a very good sense of physical comedy and was so dedicated to getting it right. When I first met her, she said: 'If you and I get this wrong, we're so busted.'"
The film premiered in 2001 to positive reviews, proving that taking a chance on Zellweger paid off.
4 Zellweger Didn't Know There Was Criticism About Her Casting In Bridget Jones's Diary
Ahead of the film's premiere, its leading lady was largely unaware of the casting controversy.
To prepare for the role, Zellweger worked incognito as an intern at London publishing house Picador-Macmillan, where she would perfect her British accent and get acquainted with the minutiae of Bridget's own job.
"There were a couple things that I picked up closer to the time we filmed because part of my job or 'work experience,' as they said, at the publishers was to clip any clippings in the media that had to do with the authors that Picador-Macmillan represents," the actress said in a Role Recall interview with Yahoo! in 2016.
As Picador represented Bridget Jones author Fielding, Zellweger had to clip articles about the writer and her novel's film adaptation.
"So every now and then something would pop up and I would see 'Cr*p American Comedian Playing English Icon,' and I'd have to cut it out and go put it in the file," she recalled.
"I thought it was just a tiny little thing. I didn't realize just how widespread this controversy was. I mean, I understand it. I get it," she added.
"I'm glad I didn't know at the time."
Zellweger "boss" at Picador confirmed the actress had to occasionally face criticism when performing her temp tasks.
"This meant she had, more than once, to cut out incendiary tabloid stories fuming that 'our Bridget' was to be played by an American," Camilla Elworthy wrote in The Guardian 2001.
"She kept her cool, but did scribble 'rubbish' in the margins of one particularly fanciful piece."
3 How Renée Zellweger Nailed The Accent For Bridget Jones's Diary
Grant touched upon the casting controversy when promoting the film in 2001, revealing the details behind Zellweger's accent work.
"A lot of the British press were sniffy on that subject," he told Cinema.com at the time.
"And I can't pretend that I didn't slightly raise an eyebrow myself when her name was brought up. I knew she was a brilliant actress, and I knew she had all those lovable, slightly victimy qualities that you need.
"But I just know from experience that accent-wise, even if you're an accent genius, crossing the Atlantic is the hardest thing in the world either way. So I was a little scared for her."
Zellweger trained with Barbara Berkery, the vocal coach who prepared Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love. The Chicago actress then put her English accent to the test during her work experience at Picador.
"Accent-wise she had a very brief Princess Margaret phase, which was alarming!" Grant said.
"Then there was a brief phase where Renée sounded as though she … had a stroke! You know, everything was rather slurred. But then Renée knocked that on the head. And two weeks before we started shooting, her accent came perfectly into focus.
"It's the best American doing English that I’ve ever heard in my life. And not once did she stop speaking with that accent, until the wrap party. When suddenly this weird.....Texan appeared. I wanted to call security," he joked.
2 The Bridget Jones's Diary Weight Controversy: How Zellweger Fit The Part
Zellweger had to gain weight for the role of the ever-dieting Bridget, who was extremely worried over her absolutely average 129 pounds in the book.
The actress described her diet for Bridget Jones's Diary in an interview with The New York Times in 2000, saying: "I'd have an omelet with cheese and sauce for breakfast with a fatty yogurt and then a fruit salad with a topping and juice and coffee and cream and a bagel with butter and a few hours later a chocolate shake with weight-gain powder in it."
Zellweger went through a similar experience when reprising the role in 2004 sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, but refused to go all the way over health concerns for the quick weight-gaining for the threequel Bridget Jones's Baby, released in 2016.
"I put on a few pounds. I also put on some breasts and a baby bump," she told Vogue at the time.
"Bridget is a perfectly normal weight and I've never understood why it matters so much. No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same thing for a role," she added.
1 Will There Be A Bridget Jones Fourth Film?
As multiple reports of a fourth Bridget Jones film being in the works have emerged, fans of the London heroine are waiting with bated breath for an official confirmation from Zellweger.
As of April this year, the actress seemed thrilled at the prospect of returning as Bridget.
"I hope so. I hope so. I mean, it's fun, you know, she's so much fun," she told The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM when asked about a fourth movie.
"I love being in her shoes. I mean, it makes me giggle, you know, every day on set the choices that we get to make about just how awkward we can make her circumstances. It's just so much fun," she added.
"I find her so endearing … her self-deprecating sort of determination."
She added: "I love her. And I think it's really rare to get to follow a character through different stages in her life. And in a way that we find her relatable, because she parallels our own life experiences at that time. I mean, Helen did write another book, so there's that."