Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding and Renee Zellweger"s relationship puts third film in jeopardy

31 Oct 2013 00:01

The writer and the actress are said to have lost touch after previously working together on the Bridget Jones films

Don’t look sad Renee. Or are you Bridget?

PA

Well. This is all V. V. awkward. Bridget Jones’ Diary author Helen Fielding and Renee Zellweger – who played the character in two films – appear to have had something of a falling-out.

It means the third instalment of the hit book series is now in jeopardy with two different scripts – one starring Renee, the other potentially not – being developed.

Indeed, the English novelist, 55, appears to confirm the pair’s less-than-close relationship in the credits to her third Bridget novel, Mad About The Boy.

While the Oxford-educated scribe is quick to thank actor Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, both 53, who also appeared in the 2001 film and 2004 sequel Bridget Jones: Edge Of Reason, in the acknowledgements, she fails to mention Renee, 44.

Which, let’s face it, is a pretty telling omission. And according to my sources from the film set, there is little love lost between the pair.

Helen Fielding at a signing of her book Bridget Jones – Mad About the Boy

PA

 

I’m told: “They didn’t really stay in touch after the last film, though Hugh, Colin and Helen all did and have a great working relationship. Everyone expected Helen to thank Renee but it wouldn’t have been sincere because they aren’t good friends.

“The main problem was that Helen, understandably, was very protective over the screenplay and how she saw the role of Bridget being played.

“But Renee had her own very definite views. There was simply a clash of working personalities.”

In the new novel, yo-yo dieting, Twitter-loving Bridget is now a widower of 51, with two young children.

She initially dates a toy-boy before finding love with a teacher at her son’s school.

Despite Mad About the Boy already becoming a bestseller, its future as a Hollywood film is in doubt.

Helen is said to still be in touch with Hugh Grant

REX

 

Rumours from LA suggest the novel has a major stumbling block – the killing off of Mark Darcy, who was played by Colin, 53.

Producers have yet to snap up the rights to the new novel but they have been working on an independent script called Bridget Jones’ Baby.

Written by Helen, it bears little resemblance to the latest novel.

However, according to US reports, there is a possibility another actress other than Ms Zellweger will play Bridget – something, presumably, Helen would not be adverse to.

That movie was originally scheduled to shoot in 2012 with The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo at the helm, but production was abruptly halted.

Of the problems attached to the making of the film, Colin quipped at the time: “You might be seeing Bridget Jones’ granddaughter’s story being told by the time we get there.”

 

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Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding and Renee Zellweger"s relationship puts third film in jeopardy

"The Escape Artist" Review - David Tennant Thriller Is More Proof That Some Drama Belongs To TV, Not Film

This week has seen the release of two London-based judicial thrillers, based on the British justice system, focusing on its great cornerstone that everyone, however badly they are accused of behaving, is deserving of legal defence.

On the big screen, ‘Closed Circuit’ asks what happens when the prosecution’s evidence could compromise national security. The answer: the employment of a Special Advocate who must decide what to share with the defence barrister.

‘Closed Circuit’s director told HuffPostUK that the scale of this film, showing London in all its glory, the Thames, the Eye, the traumatic explosion at the beginning, all justify its presence on the big screen.

David Tennant plays a defence barrister, with little choice over whom he gets to defend

But I’d argue the opposite – that for certain stories, especially those involving the intricacies of the legal system, a requisite amount of exposition, the need for strong, evolving, subtle character arc – a television three-parter is a far more natural home.

‘The Escape Artist’ just helped prove my point. The story, penned by David Wolstencroft was a thrilling exploration of what happens when the values of star-performer defence barrister Will Burton (David Tennant) – that EVERYONE deserves legal representation – come back to haunt him.

I’m not going to ruin it for those still to see this on iPlayer, but can safely say that Tennant proved once again why it’s Hollywood’s loss and our gain that he hasn’t yet converted his telly success into an LA pile. Or perhaps he’s just a natural small screen actor.

David Tennant was paired with Ashley Jensen in an effective screen partnership

Either way, he can play this kind of role in his sleep now. As Burton, he is the same middle-class, successful family man we saw in ‘The Politician’s Husband’. What altered him from his morally ambivalent character in that previous outing was his pairing with the deceptively soft presence of his co-star. As his wife Kate, Ashley Jensen hardly seemed to be acting, she made it look so effortless, and yet she changed all the chemistry in the room, and altered Tennant’s bearing accordingly.

Didn’t like Toby Kebbell as Burton’s client, but then I realise I wasn’t meant to. And I’ll definitely be tuning in to see what happens next. Next Tuesday. Happily in front of the telly.

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UK Entertainment – The Huffington Post

"The Escape Artist" Review - David Tennant Thriller Is More Proof That Some Drama Belongs To TV, Not Film

Jude Law admits he"s bored with film acting after playing a wild drinking safe-cracker

27 Oct 2013 00:17

For three month before Dom Hemingway, with Richard E Grant, his diet was “whiskey, fags, ­hamburgers, ice cream and more ice cream”

Bored: Jude Law

REX

Actor Jude Law has ­confessed that he finds making films dull, the Sunday People can report.

Jude, 40, said: “I really love acting but it is hard work and sometimes can be quite boring.

“Genuinely. Making films can be quite boring. It should be something different every time you go to work and feel as if you are embarking on something new.”

He was speaking ahead of the premiere of comedy Dom Hemingway, in which he plays a wild drinking safe-cracker seeking what he is owed after a 12-year prison stretch.

Law piled on weight to play Dom.

He said: “My character is a drunk who drank far too much and eats appalling food and smokes 40 fags a day.

“For three months my diet was whiskey, fags, ­hamburgers, ice cream and more ice cream. I didn’t feel well by the end.”

He added: “They cut my suits in by two inches all over so I looked as if I was bulging out of it like toothpaste from a tube. It had to be skin tight.

“I never weighed myself but it added a sagginess and bloated cheeks. I did not feel well at the end of the five months. By the end of the film I was so ready to quit fags and the drink.”

Serious actor Jude also feared he would fall flat on his face making his new comedy which also stars Richard E Grant.

He said: “There were certain reservations. There was a fear factor as I knew it would be a lot to take on. There was a fear of I suppose failing as it was stretching a new muscle for me.”

mirror – 3am

Jude Law admits he"s bored with film acting after playing a wild drinking safe-cracker