{"id":522230,"date":"2025-10-23T13:11:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522230\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:11:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:11:25","slug":"renee-zellwegers-bridget-jones-getting-statue-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522230\/","title":{"rendered":"Ren\u00e9e Zellweger\u2019s Bridget Jones Getting Statue In London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE<\/strong>:\u00a0Bridget Jones, Helen Fielding\u2019s beloved madcap heroine immortalized in four celebrated romantic comedies by Oscar winner Ren\u00e9e Zellweger, will be monumentalized with a statue in London\u2019s Leicester Square, as Working Title<\/a> co-chairman Eric Fellner<\/a> tells Deadline that a fifth\u00a0Bridget Jones\u00a0movie would be \u201ca wonderful idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnbelievably and a first for Working Title, we\u2019re getting a statue of one of our most loved characters in bronze being put in Leicester Square and that\u2019s very exciting,\u201d says Fellner, who runs Working Title with co-chairman Tim Bevan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRen\u00e9e Zellweger in 2001\u2019s \u2018Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMiramax \/ courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tThe statue, designed by London-based 3D Eye, will be unveiled at a ceremony with Zellweger in attendance on November 17.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll definitely be there as well,\u201d says Fellner, laughing.<\/p>\n

\n\tBridget Jones: Mad About the Boy<\/a>, the fourth instalment in the\u00a0Universal<\/a>\/ Working Title\u00a0Bridget Jones\u00a0franchise \u2014 also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor<\/a> (12 Years a Slave, The Old Guard) and Leo Woodall<\/a> (The White Lotus, Nuremberg) as Bridget\u2019s beaus and directed by Michael Morris \u2014 had its world premiere at the Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, an area long synonymous with London\u2019s film industry, last February, located just yards from where the Bridget Jones image will be introduced as part of the district\u2019s Scenes in the Square movie statue trail.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRen\u00e9e Zellweger in 2016\u2019s \u2018Bridget Jones\u2019s Baby\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversal \/courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tIt will join previous pieces placed on the trail such as Daniel Kaluuya\u2019s character Chris Washington in director Jordan Peele\u2019s Universal movie\u00a0Get Out,\u00a0Mary Poppins, Gene Kelly in Singin\u2019 In the Rain,\u00a0Batman, Paddington\u00a0and\u00a0Wonder Woman.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDaniel Kaluuya with the Leicester Square statue celebrating his role in \u2018Get Out\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPremier Comms<\/p>\n

\n\tSally Phillips, who plays Shazzer,\u00a0Bridget\u2019s loyal friend, will host next month\u2019s unveiling. Bridget\u2019s beaus Ejiofor and Woodall are also expected to be on parade to support Zellweger.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe normally unflappable Fellner admits to being \u201cover excited\u201d because \u201cwe\u2019ve never had anything like that before. And I think it\u2019s great because Bridget\u2019s a proper London heroine and the idea of having Bridget ever present in a brilliant location in the center of London is really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChuffed, Fellner boasts that \u201cthis is the first time they\u2019ve had a romantic comedy character.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, the honor comes as the 25th anniversary of the release of first movie,\u00a0Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary,\u00a0approaches next year. That film introduced Zellweger, a native Texan,\u00a0in the title role, with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as the men in her life. I recall seeing the actress around town in the run-up to shooting the first picture, practicing her ever so slightly posh Brit accent on unsuspecting Londoners. In the films, Zellweger has charmed us all with a portrait of comedic genius.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRen\u00e9e Zellweger and Colin Firth in \u2018Bridget Jones\u2019s Baby\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGiles Keyte\/\u00a9Universal Pictures\/courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with subsequent movies Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones\u2019s Baby and\u00a0Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the franchise has earned $900 million worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal released the latest iteration direct-to-Peacock domestically, while releasing it theatrically overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBy March, my colleague Nancy Tartaglione was reporting that\u00a0Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy\u00a0had crossed the $100 million mark<\/a> at the international box office.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tChiwetel Ejiofor and Ren\u00e9e Zellweger in \u2018Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversal<\/p>\n

\n\tFellner saluted Fielding for having created \u201ca brilliant character\u201d in the Independent newspaper in 1995. \u201cI love the idea that her brilliant writing in a newspaper 30 years ago ends up as a statue in Leicester Square. It\u2019s kind of gorgeous,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tZellweger hasn\u2019t been shy about expressing her desire to slip into her Bridget persona one more time. \u201cI\u2019ll never be done with\u00a0Bridget Jones \u2026 so Helen might, you know, spark to something \u2026\u201d the star cooed into Deadline\u2019s mic at the lavish pink-carpeted premiere for the supposed final chapter in the\u00a0Bridget Jones\u00a0story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf Helen writes something then, well, I\u2019m in,\u201d Zellweger shared with us later during an interview.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRen\u00e9e Zellweger in London<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBaz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWell, how great would that be? I think it would be a wonderful idea,\u201d Fellner comments when I raise the subject.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, he cautions that the other films were based on Fielding\u2019s already published columns and bestselling novels. \u201cThere isn\u2019t a book for a fifth film, so there\u2019s no natural storyline. But if there\u2019s a great idea, if Helen has a great idea, then it would be amazing to do it. So I think we\u2019ve just got to see what occurs,\u201d Fellner explains.<\/p>\n

\n\tScenes in the Square is an initiative run by Discover Leicester Square and supported by Westminster Council. Originally all fields, the development of the square, and the source of its name, came between 1632 and 1636\u00a0with the construction of Leicester House, a mansion built by Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester. The fields were laid out as the Earl\u2019s private garden.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe area has a storied history with George, the then Prince of Wales, having moved into Leicester House after being booted out of St. James\u2019s Palace by his father, George I.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLeicester Square circa 1720<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum<\/p>\n

\n\tUpon succeeding George I in 1727, George II was proclaimed King at the gates to his house in the square.<\/p>\n

\n\tA fitting place indeed for a statue of Hollywood royalty, Ren\u00e9e Zellweger as the irresistible\u00a0Bridget Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE:\u00a0Bridget Jones, Helen Fielding\u2019s beloved madcap heroine immortalized in four celebrated romantic comedies by Oscar winner Ren\u00e9e Zellweger,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[45327,169721,748,169722,393,169723,4884,112207,257,62160,16,15,6114,169724],"class_list":{"0":"post-522230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-breaking-baz","9":"tag-bridget-jones-mad-about-the-boy","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-eric-fellner","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-leo-woodall","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-renee-zellweger","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-universal","21":"tag-working-title"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115423654917260603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}