Hugh Grant: 'Bridget Jones 3' Script Doesn't 'Hit the Bull's-Eye'
Actor Hugh Grant has deemed the script for the third "Bridget Jones's Diary" as failing to hit the "bull's-eye" and is unsure if he will sign on.
The Brit would reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver in the third installment comedy, of which the first two both earned big bucks in the box office. According to Grant, it is also unconfirmed if the first two "Briget Jones" films' stars, Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth, will return for the sequel.
"I did like playing Daniel Cleaver, but there is no definite part three," Grant explained to Total Film magazine. "None of the three of us have signed up yet."
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Grant also admitted that drafts of the script for a third movie have failed to impress.
"There's been a number of drafts that have had great things in them but haven't quite hit the bull's-eye," said the actor.
Grant ensured the audience, "But they're working on it again now with yet another writer, as soon as they get to a good point we will do it, I'm sure."
Universal and Working Title productions announced that the script was in the works in August, but little progress has been made.
"It's just that it does have to be significantly reinvented," said Grant of the script.
The original international sensation "Bridget Jones's Diary" was released in 2001, based on the best-selling novels by Helen Fielding, and earned an impressive $281 million in worldwide box office sales. The sequel, "The Edge of Reason," hit theaters in 2004 and saw $262 million worldwide.
Zellwegger stars as Bridget Jones in the series- a homely, single woman living in London. Obsessed with dieting, men and smoking cigarettes, the Bridget tries to make sense of her love life with her friends and eccentric parents.
After getting romantically involved with her boss Daniel Cleaver, played by Grant, Bridget finally reaches an understanding- and happiness, with successful businessmen Mark Darcy, played by Firth. However, several mix-ups and Bridget's reliance on self-help books threatens the couple's happiness, and Bridget finds herself in a love triangle with the two men.
The 2004 sequel, "The Edge of Reason," involved yet another love triangle between Bridget and the two handsome Brits. After suspecting Mark of an affair with a younger woman at his office, the movie chronicles many misunderstandings and mishaps that Bridget encounters along the way back to Mark.
Colin Firth divulged information last year about the third "Bridget Jones" to EW: "I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can't have children, I think that's the way it goes on, so then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver (Grant) for long enough to get pregnant. And I think he dumps her, and she's left stranded, and guess who comes back to rescue her?"
Firth also has been quoted saying, "There's not any reason not to do it, I'm excited about a third film because now Bridget and Mr. Darcy are a bit older. They're different people from the second film, and the plot would most likely revolve around them being married and having kids."
In early 2011, the London Evening Standard reported that Fielding had begun writing the third installment of "Bridget Jones's Diary."
The author shared her uncertainty at the time, "I will be working on both the book and the film but I don't know if they are the same thing yet. It's not been decided."
