Bridget Jones first exploded onto bookshelves in HELEN FIELDING’s literary phenomenon Bridget Jones’s Diary, which became a global bestseller and a blockbuster film.

As a single career woman living in London, Bridget Jones not only introduced the world to her romantic adventures, but added “Singletons,” “Smug Marrieds” and “f—wittage” into the global lexicon. Bridget’s ability to triumph despite adversity led her to finally marry top lawyer Mark Darcy (Academy Award® winner COLIN FIRTH) and to become the mother of their baby boy. Happiness at last.

But in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Bridget is alone once again, widowed four years ago, when Mark was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan. She’s now a single mother to 10-year-old Billy (CASPER KNOPF, Halo) and 6-year-old Mabel (newcomer MILA JANKOVIC), and is stuck in a state of emotional limbo, raising her children with help from her loyal friends, including her former lover, Daniel Cleaver (HUGH GRANT).

Pressured by her Urban Family —Shazzer (SALLY PHILLIPS; Smack the Pony, Veep, Love at First Sight), Jude (SHIRLEY HENDERSON; See How they Run, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Mandalorian) and Tom (JAMES CALLIS, Slow Horses, Blood & Treasure, Castlevania), her work colleague Miranda (SARAH SOLEMANI; Barry, Bad Education, Chivalry), her former editor Richard Finch (NEIL PEARSON; Silent Witness, Waterloo Road, In the Club) and her gynecologist Dr. Rawlings (Oscar® winner EMMA THOMPSON) — to forge a new path toward life and love, Bridget goes back to work and even tries out the dating apps, where she’s soon pursued by a dreamy and enthusiastic younger man (LEO WOODALL; One Day, White Lotus).

Now juggling work, home and romance, Bridget grapples with the judgment of the perfect mums at school, worries about Billy as he struggles with the absence of his father, and engages in a series of awkward interactions with her son’s rational-to-a-fault science teacher (Oscar® nominee CHIWETEL EJIOFOR; 12 Years a Slave, Children of Men).

The returning cast includes Oscar® winner JIM BROADBENT (Paddington films, Iris) and BAFTA winner GEMMA JONES (Wicked Little Letters, Sense & Sensibility) as Bridget’s parents.

New cast members include LEILA FARZAD (The Marvels, I Hate Suzie, The Decameron) as Perfect Nicolette, a mother at Bridget’s children’s school; JOSETTE SIMON (Wonder Woman, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, The Crow) as Bridget’s new colleague Talitha; and NICO PARKER (The Last of Us, Dumbo, upcoming How to Train Your Dragon) as Bridget’s nanny, Chloe.

Based on the novel by HELEN FIELDING, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is directed by acclaimed filmmaker MICHAEL MORRIS (To Leslie, Better Call Saul), from a screenplay by BAFTA nominee HELEN FIELDING and Oscar® nominee DAN MAZER (I Give It a Year, Bridget Jones’s Baby) and Emmy winner ABI MORGAN (The Iron Lady, Eric).
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Bridget Jones first blasted onto bookshelves in Helen Fielding’s literary phenomenon Bridget Jones’s Diary, which became a global bestseller and a blockbuster film. As a single career woman living in London, Bridget Jones not only introduced the world to her romantic adventures, but added “Singletons”, “Smug-Marrieds” and “f—wittage” into the global lexicon. Bridget’s ability to triumph despite adversity led her to finally marry top lawyer Mark Darcy and to become the mother of their baby boy. Happiness at last.

But in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Bridget is alone once again, widowed four years ago, when Mark was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan. She’s now a single mother to nine-year-old Billy and four-year-old Mabel, and is stuck in a state of emotional limbo, raising her children with help from her loyal friends and even her former lover, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).

Pressured by her Urban Family —Shazzer, Jude and Tom, her work colleague Miranda, her mother, and her gynecologist Dr. Rawlings (Oscar® winner Emma Thompson) — to forge a new path toward life and love, Bridget goes back to work and even tries out the dating apps, where she’s soon pursued by a dreamy and enthusiastic younger man (White Lotus’s Leo Woodall). Now juggling work, home and romance, Bridget grapples with the judgment of the perfect mums at school, worries about Billy as he struggles with the absence of his father, and engages in a series of awkward interactions with her son’s rational-to-a-fault science teacher (Oscar® nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michael Morris (To Leslie, Better Call Saul), from a screenplay by BAFTA nominee Helen Fielding, based on her novel, with contributions from Emmy winner Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, Eric) and Oscar® nominee Dan Mazer (I Give it A Year, Bridget Jones’s Baby).

The film is produced for Working Title by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, whose films, including The Danish Girl, Darkest Hour, Fargo, Les Misérables and The Theory of Everything, among others, have earned 14 Academy Awards® and six Best Picture nominations. The film is also produced by Jo Wallett (Wicked Little Letters, Catherine Called Birdy). The film is executive produced by Amelia Granger and Sarah-Jane Wright for Working Title, Renée Zellweger and by Helen Fielding. Working Title has produced all the Bridget Jones films.

A Universal Pictures/Working Title film, with co-financing from Studiocanal and Miramax, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be released in cinemas internationally by Universal Pictures and will stream exclusively on Peacock in the U.S. The three previous Bridget Jones films—Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)—have earned more than $800 million worldwide.
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Signed to MGM Studios at a very young age, her life was almost completely controlled by its studio head, Louis B. Mayer. Never considered an out right beauty of the caliber of Liz Taylor or Ava Gardner, she was made to feel second class and was never allowed a childhood. Labour laws of the time for children actors in Hollywood were almost non-existent. They also gave her regular quantities of amphetamines to keep her thin and working. This helped to create addictions that lasted her entire life.

The film doesn’t back away from the horrible treatment she endured as a child actor or the excesses she regularly indulged in as an adult but its narrative is more focused on a somewhat productive period of her life. Unable to get regular work in the states in her later years because of her reputation for being undependable, she had to travel to London to get singing gigs and try to make enough money to solve her financial entanglements.

As a canvas for the craft of acting, it gives Zellweger a great opportunity and she is utterly believable in the role. If the film succeeds at introducing a new generation of people to the talents of Judy Garland, it will be considered a success. She deserves to be remembered in her entirety not just as a cautionary tale. Her talent was substantial and there are moments of great emotion in her work.
Rob Hudson
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It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in THE WIZARD OF OZ, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown. As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians, and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through. Even her dreams of romance seem undimmed as she embarks on a courtship with Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband.

And yet Judy is fragile. After working for 45 of her 47 years, she is exhausted; haunted by memories of a childhood lost to Hollywood; gripped by a desire to be back home with her kids. Will she have the strength to go on? Featuring some of her best-known songs, including the timeless classic ‘Over the Rainbow’, JUDY celebrates the voice, the capacity for love and the sheer pizzazz of “the world’s greatest entertainer”.

Judy will be released in Australian cinemas October 10!
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