“Bridget Jones’s Baby”: 40 amazing facts about the movie! (List)

1. Bridget Jones’s Baby is an upcoming English romantic-comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Helen Fielding, David Nicholls, and Emma Thompson, based on the fictional columns by Fielding.

2. It will be the third film in the franchise and a sequel to 2004 film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

3. The film will star Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth, returning to their respective roles of Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy, as well as Patrick Dempsey as a new character.

4. Filming officially began on 2 October 2015 in London.

5. The film will be released on 16 September 2016.

6. In July 2009, Variety announced that a third installation of the Bridget Jones films was in the early stages of development. Working Title Films confirmed that it would not be based on Helen Fielding’s third Bridget Jones novel, but instead would be based on the columns she wrote for The Independent in 2005.

7. On 1 March 2011, it was reported that both Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth were interested in reprising their roles.

8. In July 2011, Paul Feig was in final talks to direct the film based on the script by author Fielding.

9. On 11 August 2011, Universal Studios and Working Title greenlit the third film.

10. On 4 October 2011, Deadline reported that Feig had exited the project due to creative differences with Working Title, and Feig had also worked on the recent draft of the script.

11. Production was slated to begin in January 2012 with the returning cast including Zellweger, Firth, and Hugh Grant.

12. On 30 November 2011, Peter Cattaneo came on board to direct the sequel, newly titled “Bridget Jones’s Baby” from a script by Fielding, Feig, and David Nicholls

13. Producers on board were Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, along with Jonathan Cavendish of Little Bird.

14. On 3 February 2012, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the production had been delayed due to creative differences between the script of the film and actors, especially Grant as he disliked the script and reportedly exited the project, though this was denied by producer Bevan.

15. However, the producer confirmed that they were working on the script and the film would be made as planned.

16. In April 2013, Firth spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times, stating “unfortunately, it might be a bit of a long wait,” and he said he “wouldn’t say that it’s completely dead in the water, but the way it’s going, you might be seeing Bridget Jones’ granddaughter’s story being told by the time we get there.” In an interview on 10 October 2014, Grant mentioned an existing script for a sequel, though he also expressed his dislike for it, and stated that he would not star in the third film. Later in the next week, producers hired Emma Thompson to rewrite the original script written by Fielding and Nicholls.

17. On 25 June 2015, it was reported that final negotiations for the film were going on and Sharon Maguire, director of the first film would return to direct the third film.[18] Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent were also in talks to return for the third film to join the cast. On 9 September 2015, Patrick Dempsey joined the cast of the film.

18. Filming for a short period began in July 2015 in Dublin, where the first scenes for the film were shot at Ed Sheeran’s concert at Croke Park

19. Official principal photography with the actual cast began on 2 October 2015 in London.

20. On 13 October 2015, shooting was taking place at Borough Market., and later in October in Windsor Great Park, at Rosy Bottom.

21. On 26 October 2015, filming took place at a church in Oxfordshire.

22. Filming wrapped up on November 27, 2015.

23. Reshoots started on January 8th.

24. Hugh Grant will not return to reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver.

25. Sharon Maguire, who also directed the original Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), served as the real-life inspiration of ‘Shazza’, the character played by Sally Phillips.

26. Ed Sheeran revealed his involvement in the film on his Instagram account, with a selfie of himself and Renée Zellweger.

27. Sally Phillips was originally unable to reprise her part as Shazza, when the movie was set to film in 2012, due to her own real-life pregnancy.

28. According to Colin Firth, his new rival, Patrick Dempsey’s Jack Qwant, is more intimidating than his former opponent, Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver; “Mark didn’t think Daniel was better than him. This guy Jack seems to be more of the charming good guy, and in some ways that’s scarier.”

29. This is not a film adaptation of Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”, the third novel in the Bridget Jones series, released in 2013. Instead it’s based on an original screenplay which Fielding wrote with David Nicholls.

30. The production start date of the third ‘Bridget Jones’ film is October 2nd 2015. This is 14 years after the previous entry in the series was released.

31. Released on the 20-Years-Anniversary of the publication of the first Bridget Jones novel, while filming began on the 20-Years-Anniversary of the release of the first Bridget Jones column in The Independent.

32. Scenes set at the British summer music festival at Glastonbury was filmed during wintertime in England.

33. Controversially, this is the first time Renée Zellweger hasn’t gained weight in order to portray Bridget Jones. Several online outlets claimed that Zellweger betrayed her iconic character, as the honest body image is considered a part of the character’s appeal. However, director Sharon Maguire defends the decision to keep Jones’ waist down; “We all really loved the notion that Bridget had finally reached her ideal weight – somewhere between a UK size 10 or 12 – but still hadn’t solved any of her issues about love and loneliness.”

34. This marks the third time Patrick Dempseys makes his debut in the third movie of a franchise. The first being Scream 3 (2000) and Transformers 3 (2011).

35. The events of the film take place before author Helen Fielding’s novel “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”.

36. Renée Zellweger was eager to revisit her iconic character, more than a decade after the most recent film; “I love this character, I like that she tells stories about what it’s like to be a woman and these really relatable situations at certain times in life. It’s so right to tell a story about Bridget in this stage of her life.”

37. Originally announced in 2009 with a possible start date eyed for autumn 2010. The project eventually spend another six years in development, with various writers and directors attached.

38. Set in 2010.

39. Renee Zellweger premiered the first trailer on ‘The Ellen Show’. It also marked her first ever appearance on the talkshow.

40. Jones’ handwritten diary has been replaced with an iPad.