Bridget Jones's Diary (film)

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Bridget Jones's Diary
Directed by	Sharon Maguire
Produced by	Helen Fielding Tim Bevan Jonathan Cavendish
Written by	Helen Fielding Andrew Davies Richard Curtis
Starring	Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant
Distributed by	Miramax Films (USA) Universal Pictures (non-USA)
Release date(s)	April 13, 2001
Running time	93 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$26 million (est.)
IMDb profile

Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 film, based on the novel, also called Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding. The adaptation starred Renée Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as the caddish Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Bridget's 'true love' Mark Darcy. A sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004.

Before the film came out a considerable amount of controversy surrounded the casting of the American Zellweger as what some saw as a quintessentially British heroine. However, her performance is widely considered to be of a high standard.

Helen Fielding has stated in many interviews that her novel was based upon both Jane Austen's work Pride and Prejudice and the popular 1995 BBC adaptation, Pride and Prejudice. This was also reflected in the decision to cast Colin Firth as Darcy, since he played the 'real' Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. This is not the film's only connection to that serial – the screenplay was co-written by Andrew Davies, who had written the adaptation of Austen's novel for the BBC.^[1][2]

The film includes cameos by Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer.

The director of the film, Sharon Maguire, is one of Fielding's friends whom the character of "Shazzer" was reportedly based on. In the film "Shazzer" was played by Sally Phillips, who originally auditioned for the role of Bridget but was not considered a big enough name for the part. Kate Winslet also auditioned for the part and was almost considered for it, but eventually was dismissed since she was too young (25 at the time the auditions took place) to play Bridget.

Contents 1 Soundtrack 2 Other songs 3 Trivia 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Soundtrack

The movie's soundtrack features two hit songs which were released as singles, "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle and "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell. Robbie Williams contributed two songs to the soundtrack and Sheryl Crow contributed one.

1. "Killin' Kind" by Shelby Lynne
2. "Kiss That Girl" by Sheryl Crow
3. "Love" by Rosey
4. "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by Robbie Williams
5. "All by Myself" by Jamie O'Neal
6. "Just Perfect" by Tracy Bonham
7. "Dreamsome" by Shelby Lynne
8. "Not Of This Earth" by Robbie Williams
9. "Out of Reach" by Gabrielle
10. "Someone Like You" by Dina Carroll
11. "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell
12. "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye
13. "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan
14. "Pretender Got My Heart" by Alisha's Attic
15. "It's Only A Diary" by Patrick Doyle

[edit] Other songs

Other songs in the movie not listed on the soundtrack include:

• "Magic Moments" by Perry Como
• "Can't Take My Eyes off You" by Andy Williams
• "Respect" by Aretha Franklin
• "Without You" by Renée Zellweger
• "Ring Ring Ring" by Aaron Soul
• "Don't Get Me Wrong" by The Pretenders
• "Peter Gunn" by Art of Noise
• "Up, Up and Away" by The Fifth Dimension
• "Every Bossa"
• "Me and Mrs. Jones" by The Dramatics
• "Fly Me to the Moon" by Julie London
• "Woman Trouble" by The Artful Dodger
• "Christmas Green"
• "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross

[edit] Trivia

• In Germany, the title is: Bridget Jones – Schokolade zum Frühstück, meaning "Bridget Jones - Chocolate for Breakfast"
• In the United Kingdom the film grossed a very impressive £41,692,598.
• In the United States the film made $71,500,556.
• Controversial author Salman Rushdie makes a cameo apperance as himself, with both Bridget and Daniel asking him for directions to the toilet.

[edit] See also

• Borough market (filming location)
• My name is Kim Sam Soon (Korean drama with some thematic and narrative similarities)
• Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://www.wga.org/pr/awards/2002/helen-fielding.html
2. ^ http://www.firth.com/articles/03vanfair_italy_oct.html

[edit] References

• Amazon.com: Bridget Jones's Diary Soundtrack
• IMDb: Bridget Jones's Diary Soundtrack Listing

[edit] External links

• Bridget Jones Online Archive
• Bridget Jones's Diary at the Internet Movie Database
• Bridget Jones's Diary at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bridget Jones's Diary at Box Office Mojo
• Movie Locations Guide.com - Maps and directions to Bridget Jones's Diary Filming Locations
• Renee Zellweger interview for Bridget Jones’s Diary