It might be a stretch to call the Bridget Jones films a beloved franchise. Certainly the first film was both a major hit of 2001, and remains an enjoyable little romcom today, but its sequel in 2004 was not quite so beloved, relying mostly on tired re-hashes of successful scenes in the earlier film. The idea of a third film has been bandied around before, especially since the release of Helen Fielding’s addition sequel Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. But are we any closer to seeing a Bridget Jones 3, and do we really want to?
In a recent interview about his new film Kingsman: The Secret Service (via Cinema Blend), Colin Firth naturally faced questions about the possibilities of Bridget Jones 3. While he’s not committing himself to anything just yet, it does sound like Firth would be happy to be involved in another film:
It would have to have somewhere to go. Back at the time, I said that a third one should only happen if we were telling a story about having moved into a different generation when we were all beginning to deteriorate a little bit. I think we might be ready for that moment!
So Firth could very well be on board, if the script is right. Meanwhile, we know that Hugh Grant dropped out of the project awhile back, meaning that his Daniel Cleaver character will not be returning. This threw a bit of a fly into the ointment, as the original idea for the next films would involve Bridget hoping for a baby and being torn between Mark Darcy (Firth) and Cleaver. The loss of Grant is hardly a deal-breaker, though. Renee Zellweger is on record as saying that she’d like to do another film, but does not seem to have any idea when that might happen.
If they do manage to get a Bridget Jones 3 going, it might be a blessing in disguise that Grant does not want to be involved. Simply doing yet another rehash of the old Mark/Bridget/Daniel triangle that has been going on since the first film would be boring. With both Firth and Zellweger obviously interested in making another film, perhaps we shall see more about this in the near future.
