Fans of the two Bridget Jones movies are probably wondering when they are going to be seeing star Renee Zellweger slip back into her reasonably convincing British accent for a third go-round as the love-lorn, hapless titular diarist.
Well, it could be some time, according to Helen Fielding, writer of the novels that the first two films were based on. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 series Woman’s Hour today, the novelist stated that while she is working a third book chronicling Bridget Jones’ misadventures, those currently working on the third have been developing their own story.
The movie is a different, earlier story, not based on a novel. It started with some columns I wrote in the Independent about six years ago. But I think with a third installment stakes are very high. We all go back a long way, we’re all really fond of each other and everyone really wants to get it right but that means there’s a lot of voices, a lot of writers and really getting Bridget right, I always think it’s like a little duck. In the end it needs to skim effortlessly along the surface but underneath the legs are going really, really fast. It’s complicated. And it’s quite hard to do that when there’s a lot of people designing the duck.
I like the other people very much and one never wants to be that nightmare author who’s going “You’re murdering my babies!” I think the problem is that it’s a very specific point of view and very specific voice and however much I stand back we still need that voice. It’s particularly hard without a novel.
Of course, there is always the chance that Fielding will finish her book before a screenplay reaches a point where everyone is satisfied so they just trash what they’ve been working on in favor of adapting the new novel. This might be the easier way, given that the “lot of voices” that Fielding mentions probably covers everyone from writer David Nicholls and director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) of the project to studio execs with their own “creative” ideas to Zellweger and co-star Hugh Grant who probably both want to have some input as well.
Via Bleeding Cool.
