Source : the age
By Anita Singh
London: Renée Zellweger has said the workplace romance shown in Bridget Jones’s Diary would not be allowed today because it would breach human resources (HR) rules.
Sleazy-but-charming boss Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant, is depicted in the 2001 film seducing his junior employee Bridget, a cigarette-smoking 30-something, while working with her at a publishing company.
Ahead of the release of a new Bridget Jones film, Mad About the Boy, Grant interviewed Zellweger for the February issue of British Vogue.
Hugh Grant as Daniel and Renee Zellweger as Bridget in an office scene from Bridget Jones’s Diary.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
He asked her: “Do you think the original film looks dated now? For instance, our romance, do you think people would think that’s very inappropriate? He’s her boss and he’s exploiting his powerful position. Where do you stand on that?”
Zellweger replied: “Well, I’m sure HR would have some stern rules down at the publishing house these days, don’t you think?”
The actress suggested HR would now hold a meeting with Cleaver and tell him to end the inappropriate contact.
“Everyone would’ve had to get together and talk about how you engage with people,” she added.
Grant replied: “And Daniel would’ve had to be re-educated.”
Discussing other changes in society since the release of Bridget Jones’s Diary, Grant suggested that Britain had become “less of a jolly place”.
“The clubs of London are shutting. Our local cinemas are shutting. The local wine bar where I met my wife is empty. Isn’t it awful? I can’t bear it,” he added.
However, Zellweger disagreed, saying: “I don’t think the UK is a sadder place. It’s different. Things are different.” She then joked: “Have we just turned into those old people who complain about everything?”
In preparation for filming the first Bridget Jones film, Zellweger worked in the publicity department at Picador under the name “Bridget Cavendish” – and said that no one there recognised her.
She recalled: “Maybe I was out of context or maybe it was having more chubby cheeks. It was odd. One of the ladies who worked in the office was reading the Anna Quindlen novel One True Thing and they made a film out of it [starring Zellweger], so I’m on the cover of the book.
“And she’s there telling me about having finished it on the tube on the way to work and how marvellous it was.”
Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary with co-star Colin Firth.
The film was followed by Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004 and Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016.
Mad About the Boy, based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name, catches up with Bridget four years after the death of Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth.
She is a single parent in her 50s and has two potential love interests, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall. Hugh Grant returns as Daniel Cleaver.
All three of the original films’ stars have remained friends.
UK Telegraph
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