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Filming for the forthcoming Bridget Jones sequel is reportedly making life difficult for A-list stars living in London.
The fourth instalment in the franchise, titled Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, has seen Renée Zellweger filming on the streets of Haverstock and Hampstead, alongside new cast members Leo Woodall (One Day, The White Lotus) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange) as well as Hugh Grant, who will reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver.
Production is allegedly causing disruption in North London, in areas nearby to homes of stars including “Watermelon Sugar” singer Harry Styles and comedian Ricky Gervais, as residents have reportedly been given letters asking them to only leave their home at certain times.
Speaking to The Sun, a source said Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy filming had been causing “chaos” for celebrities and normal residents of the area alike.
“Neighbourhoods with stars such as Harry Styles, Rami Malek, Ricky Gervais and Rowan Atkinson, living there are all getting letters from the production about not interrupting shots,” they said.
“It’s gone down like a lead balloon with some of them and of course some of the normal people who live and work there.”
They continued: “The letters have informed them about when filming is taking place and they have been asked to either leave their homes during this time or not to come and go at certain times.”
The Independent has contacted Working Title Film representatives for comment.
The new film, directed by Michael Morris (To Leslie, Better Call Saul), comes eight years after Bridget Jones’s Baby released in cinemas, which ended with Zellweger’s character marrying Mark Darcy (Firth) and discovering he was the father to her child.
The 2013 novel the Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy film is based on revisits Bridget as a widow in her 50s following Mark’s death in a landmine accident two years earlier.
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It has not yet been confirmed whether Colin Firth will return as Bridget’s original love interest Mark Darcy, much to the concern of fans. But Grant has previously hinted that Firth will not be a part of the film.
‘I’ll tell you what, I think this script for the fourth Bridget is the best one of the four,” he told Entertainment Tonight of the upcoming sequel. “And, in fact, one of the best scripts I have read in a long time.”
