Renée Zellweger says making ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ felt like reconnecting with a "old friend".
The 46-year-old actress is reprising the titular role for a third time and for the first time since 2010, but she says it felt completely right to play Bridget again because her character’s story is so "relatable".
She told Entertainment Weekly magazine: "This is part of the new challenge, discovering where she is now in her new life.
She’s a bit more mature and has moved on, as we all have.
"But as an actress, it feels like stepping back with an old friend. 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."
‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ director Sharon Maguire also felt the same about returning to the franchise for the first time since making the original 2001 film.
Maguire said: "When the script was first popped on to the doormat I’ll admit I was intrigued to see what had happened to these characters 15 years later.
"I realised I’d really missed them. It brought back memories of my own life 15 years ago, too. It was somewhat haunting from that respect thinking back to how our lives have changed. All of one’s fantasies for one’s life and how they turn out … that’s an ongoing theme for Bridget Jones, whether those fantasies concern babies, marriage or careers. So I was very keen to find out if any of Bridget’s fantasies for her life had come true."
The sequel is currently still shooting and is scheduled for a September 2016 release.
Renée Zellweger: Playing Bridget Jones again is like meeting an old friend
