Hugh Grant has revealed he only agreed to be in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy after rewriting his part.
The actor, 64, is set to reprise his role as the titular character’s womanising ex-boyfriend Daniel Cleaver in the fourth installment of the rom-com franchise based on the books by Helen Fielding, but says he “wasn’t crazy” about what script writers originally had planned for him.
He starred in the first two films opposite Renee Zellweger’s Bridget, but did not return for 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby, where his character was appeared to have been killed off, and Bridget became pregnant.
“I really couldn't fit my character in - he just didn't belong, so I stepped aside,” he told Vanity Fair of his absence.
His character doesn’t actually feature in Fielding’s fourth book on which this flick is to be based, but he says the film makers “wanted him in it”.
Sharing that he “loved the script” for the new film which is due to be released in cinemas on Valentine’s Day 2025, he confessed “it made me cry,” but again, there was no space for his character, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
He explained to the publication: "I loved the script—it made me cry, and I wanted to help with this one.
“But really there’s no part for Daniel Cleaver in it at all. They wanted him in it, and in the end, they’d done something I wasn’t crazy about.”
The Notting Hill star then "wrote some scenes" himself, with the filmmakers working them into the story.
He added: "It’s absolutely the best ['Bridget Jones' book], and I think it’s very funny and very, very moving.
“I’m not in a lot, I did a week’s work, that’s it... But when you see the film, you’ll be very moved.”
