A star of the Bridget Jones film franchise said they weren’t convinced by the original script (Picture: Miramax/ Universal/ Kobal/ Shutterstock)
Celia Imrie has admitted she wasn’t a fan of the original script for Bridget Jones’s Diary.
A reinterpretation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice, the 2001 movie was based on Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel of the same name and starred Renee Zellweger in the title role, with Colin Firth and Hugh Grant playing her love interests.
It was praised by critics and was a box office success, eventually being followed by the sequels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004 and Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016.
A fourth film, Mad About the Boy, is also currently being filmed in London, with new cast members including One Day’s Leo Woodall and Isla Fisher.
However, Celia, who played Una Alconbury in the first three films, has revealed she wasn’t quite convinced about signing on to the movie 23 years ago.
First introduced in the original film Celia’s character was a friend of Bridget’s interfering mother Pam.
Celia Imrie played Una Alconbury, a friend of Bridget’s mother Pam (Picture: James Gourley/ Rex/ Shutterstock)
Throwing a garden party that was initially themed ‘Tarts and Vicars’, there was a change of plans however Bridget wasn’t informed and turned up in a Playboy bunny costume.
Although Celia, 71, has returned for Bridget Jones 4, she’s now spoken about thinking the original ‘would never get made’.
‘I was really embarrassed to say that I was at a read-through for a film, and it was about somebody who wanted to give up smoking, and they thought they were having too much white wine and they wanted a boyfriend and they wrote a diary…and I thought it was never going to get made,’ she shared during an appearance on The One Show on Thursday.
The original movie starred Colin Firth, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant (Picture: Jason Bell/ Universal/ Studio Canal/ Miramax/ Kobal/ Rex/ Shutterstock)
‘And I said to my friend afterwards, “I don’t understand it”, and she went “wait, it’s not Bridget Jones’s Diary is it?” and I said “how do you know” and she told me how the news had been out [about the movie] in the papers for two years,’ she added.
After being questioned about the upcoming fourth movie by hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, Celia said Renee was ‘a dream’ to work with and revealed the film would likely hit screens next year.
Despite her initial concerns, Celia returned for the next two sequels as well as the upcoming fourth movie (Picture: BBC)
In 2020 Celia recalled ‘bursting into tears’ when reuniting with her former co-star, who she didn’t think would remember her.
The actress shared the heartwarming story on That Gaby Roslin Podcast, revealing: ‘When I was in Hollywood last year, I went to see Judy, you know the film, and afterward Renee Zellweger came to the party. I didn’t think she would but anyway, she did.’
She continues: ‘So I lined up with my heart beating so hard, thinking “Oh she’ll never remember who I am”, having played Aunt Una in Bridget Jones.
‘I waited my turn, and she gave me such a wonderful welcome, all I could do was burst into tears of course! Honestly, she was adorable.’
The One Show airs weeknights at 7pm on BBC One.
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