Exclusive Interview
Inside the ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’ Ending & That ‘Powerful’ Nod to Mark Darcy
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.]
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) was back out on the prowl after the death of her beloved husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), but dating looks a bit different nowadays. Not only is she a widow with two young kids, she has also been out of the game. Still hanging on to her Darcy for dear life, she sees fragments of him wherever she goes, as well as a symbolic (and real) owl that overlooks her and the children each night. After a journey of healing (and a romance with the much younger Roxton, played by Leo Woodall), she realizes that romance can once again be part of her life.
Learning an important lesson from Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that moving on from grief doesn’t mean you have to let go, a whole new world opens up for Bridget. She’s embracing a new chapter, one in a post-Darcy world for the first time in over a decade. In the final moments of the film, the owl returns and looks Mr. Wallaker in the eye after the New Year’s Eve party before flying away. Darcy’s blessing in flight.
When asked about that final moment, director Michael Morris revealed to Swooon, “I never want to put too many labels on something, just because it’s very important to me that people experience this film and make their own association.
He continued, “It can mean something to somebody and something else to somebody else, and that’s completely the way art works for me. I think there’s a powerful connection between how they interpret that owl and something to do with Mark Darcy, Colin Firth’s character.” The British 51-year-old stated, “This movie is a comedy about letting go. It’s the experience of someone who is optimistic and joyful as Bridget always has been, dealing with something that requires her to move on, and the owl is a powerful part of that.”
Morris does, however, want to give more clarity about another scene that marked the ending of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy: the heartwarming flash forward ensemble sequence.
Going through the room full of Bridget’s loved ones, the scene captures a feeling so unique, something that will make every fan of the franchise drown in a puddle of happy tears. From Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) reconnecting with his teenage son to the lead’s friendship group commenting on their good run, no resolution has ever felt so sweet.
“That whole segment, what was so special, because the way we staged it, was just exactly what you see. We brought everybody,” Morris divulged. “It was very important to me… How do you end a movie? It is already a challenge for all of us, but how do you end a franchise? Or, at least, how do you get to the end of a franchise on film, 25 years almost since it started? It’s a lot, right?”
And he did pull it off.
“So to me, it was just really important to surround Bridget with her real family, her sort of biological family, and all of her chosen family, and just see that we’re part of them with the way the camera moves through that party. We are in the party with them,” Morris detailed to Swooon. “I really wanted the feel of this to be, we’re part of Bridget’s life, we’re part of Bridget’s family, and vice versa, so that you’d go forward at the end of this film, sort of knowing that she going to be okay. She’s where she should be.”
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, February 13, Streaming on Peacock
