Leo Woodall: Bridget Jones’ love interest character was meant to be Scottish
The actor prepared to play the role as a Scot until the producers changed their minds.
Leo Woodall has revealed that he prepared to play Bridget Jones’ young love interest as a Scot before the producers “changed their minds”.
In the fourth movie in the romantic comedy saga, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Londoner Woodall plays Hampstead Heath park worker Roxster, who meets the clumsy and lovelorn TV worker (Renee Zellweger) after rescuing her from a tree.
The upcoming film takes place four years after the death of Bridget’s husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and sees her readjust to the single life.
It also includes the return of Hugh Grant, who continues in the role of former lover Daniel Cleaver – who had been killed off in the third film, Bridget Jones’s Baby.
Woodall, also known for Netflix’s One Day and HBO hit series The White Lotus, told BBC One talk programme The Graham Norton Show that Roxster “was supposed to be Scottish”.
He added: “I went into the audition prepared to do it in a Scottish accent and once I did it, they changed their minds.”
Woodall also said he did not really get to know Grant during the filming of the movie, though both did attended the January 29 premiere.
He said: “I didn’t get to work with Hugh, and I was too shy to say hello to him. Everyone keep asking me, ‘What he’s like?’ and I have to say, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t met him’.”
Zellweger said she was “hopeful” for the return of Grant “but also surprised (because) he was dead”.
“But if you are going to bring someone back to life, let it be Daniel Cleaver,” she added.
“I am so glad they found him alive at the end of the third film so he could come back if he wanted to. He is so brilliant.”
She also spoke about how Bridget has addressed “the dark moments” with grief of Mark dying in her “own way”.
“No one gets to this stage of life without knowing grief and it wouldn’t be authentic without a little struggle,” she added.
The new film is based on British author Helen Fielding’s 2013 book Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which sees the character as a widow in her 50s with two children.
This Is Us star Sterling K Brown; Captain America: Brave New World actor Anthony Mackie; pop star Cyndi Lauper; and singer songwriter Lola Young were also on The Graham Norton Show.
