Latest news with #HelenFielding
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius, review: lifeless reconstructions aside, plenty for Janeites to tuck into
' Jane Austen changed fiction forever.' For once the hyperbole is apt. Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius (BBC Two), following similar series on Shakespeare and Mozart, considers the woman who permanently reset the course of comic fiction. The edutainment format established by 72 Films offers, once again, a mixed grill of clips, talking heads and dramatic reconstruction, with Juliet Stevenson's reassuring voice-over. Austen's compact canon and wide fan base make her a neat fit for a three-part treatment. Northanger Abbey gets its proper due, as do the juvenilia and the unfinished works, while knowledge of her novels is spread nicely among academics, authors and actors, not to mention the odd admiral. It's fun and mainly illuminating to hear from writers, notably Helen Fielding, who still extract inspiration from Austen. Meanwhile, with furrowed brows, the scholars line up to explain how the life links to the work. Best at presenting Austen's depths with a contemporary relish is Bee Rowlatt, who talks of 'boss moves' and 'stonking bangers' with a brainy swagger suggestive of Emma Thompson. Austen is the cause of a great lexical panoply in her admirers. On the one hand, there's Colm Tóibín's graceful delineation of narrative subtext. Here, on the other, is Tom Bennett on playing a rich suitor from Lady Susan: 'He's a f---ing idiot.' Sam West talks with twinkling wisdom about the novels' timeless empathies. 'He does what a partner should do,' he says of Captain Wentworth, 'he relieves you of your burden.' From a personal perspective that doesn't feel out of place, Greg Wise – the caddish Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility – reflects movingly on Austen's death in the arms of her sister Cassandra. There are of course plenty of adaptations to cite. The choice is sometimes right. For Emma's cruel humiliation of the chatterbox Miss Bates on Box Hill, the best version finds Gwyneth Paltrow being haughty to a quite brilliant Sophie Thompson. And sometimes wrong: the canonical version of Persuasion is Roger Michell's from 1995, not the recent Netflix misfire used here. NB to Janeites: there's no sign of Colin Firth. Whatever the version used, the edit skips breathlessly from clip to clip as if swiping right on the apps. As for literary analysis, there's not quite enough on the supple glories of Austen's prose. The profound innovations of free indirect speech and the unreliable narrator are dispatched in haste. Not that its own narrative is always reliable, especially on Mansfield Park. Cherie Blair is on hand to explain the titular allusion to the Mansfield Judgement, which delivered the first limitation on slavery in England. But nobody mentions that Austen makes only one passing allusion to the slave trade. Quoting from Patricia Rozema's very free adaptation from 2000, the implication is that Fanny Price is expelled from the grand house for having the temerity to talk of emancipation. This feels disingenuous. Still, even if you feel you know the work, there's enough here to tuck into. But you'll require a tolerant digestive tract to stomach the inert reconstructions of Austen's life. The credits reveal that Jane is wordlessly embodied by one Emőke Zsigmond, while Hampshire is played by Hungary. She'd find that comical.
Daily Mirror
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding's 9 must-read books
Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has shared some of her favourite books, including the works that have made her laugh out loud and the novels with the best covers Helen Fielding, famed for her Bridget Jones novels, has quite a literary reputation. After Bridget Jones's Diary was published in 1996, it exploded in popularity and was adapted into a hit film in 2001. This year we welcomed Bridget back to screens with the cinematic version of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy from 2013 where we see Bridget grappling with life as a widow after losing her husband Mark Darcy. Prior to its February premiere, Helen Fielding dished out some personal book recommendations to Elle for their Shelf Life feature, where authors discuss books that have left a lasting impression on them. The opener from Helen's list was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, an enduring inspiration across her writing journey. This favourite formed her pick for the book with the best opening line. She then revealed which read had her chuckling, pointing to Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe, reports the Mirror US. Helen remarked: "What really makes books funny is the voice and perspective of the narrator. This is a hilarious first-person diary of a young and utterly hopeless nanny." Not stopping there, Helen endorsed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, One Day by David Nicholls, and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea - a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's classic Jane Eyre. When asked about the books she thinks boast the finest covers, Helen said: "The original Ian Fleming James Bond books have insanely cool covers. I have five of them framed together on my wall. They're gorgeous. My favourite: Octopussy." Completing her list of 'must-read books', Helen added Buddha's Little Instruction Book by Jack Kornfield, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, and The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton to the selection. Books recommended by Helen Fielding Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys One Day by David Nicholls Octopussy by Ian Fleming Buddha's Little Instruction Book by Jack Kornfield A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton
Daily Mirror
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Bridget Jones author claims she was 'groped all the time' when she worked for the BBC
Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has claimed that while she worked at the BBC she was groped by male colleagues during the 1980's and females just 'got used' to it Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has hit out at the BBC after she claimed she was "groped" by male colleagues while working at the broadcaster during the eighties. The 67 year old star, who was propelled to the dizzy heights of fame after her novel became a Hollywood blockbuster in 2001, candidly revealed in a recent interview that women would constantly have their breasts touched by men. Helen admitted: "I worked at the BBC when I was in my 20s, and you just got used to the fact that people would actually put their hand on your boob while they were talking to you about work." Speaking at the Soho summit at the Soho Farmhouse, she continued: "'It just seemed to be what you put up with. I first wrote Bridget pre #MeToo, and when I look at that film now, I can't believe that that stuff was going on." In the film, which reflected Helen's experiences at the BBC, Bridget Jones played by Renee Zellweger, is persistently batting off unwanted sexual advances by men including her boss Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant. The annual summit included Hollywood stars including Rebel Wilson and Gillian Anderson, who added that sexism was still rife in the film industry. Helen continued: "I honestly think it's still there in the movie business, it's just under the parapet. I think there has to be a constant awareness of not being unequal in the way women are treated." She added: "You still have to fight much harder as a woman, even a successful woman, and you get treated in ways that men would not be treated. And there's no denying that it is still going on and it needs to change." Following her departure from Oxford University, Helen was working backstage at the popular children's TV show Jim'll Fix It, hosted by the shamed late star Jimmy Savile. Years on from Helen working at the show, Jimmy Saville was exposed as a serial paedophile. At the time, his antics were whispered among staff, although it had not publicly come to light. Speaking about her suspicions, she said: "Well, we always said, 'Don't leave Jimmy alone with the children'. But we were sort of 23, and you know.... I am sure the producers must have known." She went on to say: "We didn't think he would do anything. But he was so creepy. We always stayed with the kids." Helen became a regional researcher for the BBC in 1979 as part of the Nationwide magazine. In response to Helen's claims, a spokesman for the BBC said: "We're sorry to hear of these experiences. " The statement added: "Attitudes and behaviours have changed significantly in the last 40 years and the BBC – like the rest of society - is very different place now to what it was then."
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' Director Says Previous Films Weren't ‘Misogynistic,' but Instead Shone a Comedic Light on ‘Pressures That Existed' at the Time
Expertly timed to coincide with Valentine's Day, the fourth — and apparently final — installment in the iconic Bridget Jones franchise has now been released, available on Peacock in the U.S. and in theaters via Universal around the world, including the U.K. The long-gestating 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' — based on Helen Fielding's third Jones novel — drags cinema's favourite diary-writing singleton in the 2020s, this time as a widow with two small children and who's nervously reentering the dating scene. As the story sounds, it's considerably more emotional than the previous titles, but still manages to pack in the all-important rom and com. More from Variety Why Hollywood Keeps Sending Rom-Coms Like 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' Straight to Streaming 'Bridget Jones' Author Helen Fielding on Bringing 'Mad About the Boy' to the Big Screen and Defying Stereotypes About Women Dating Younger Men: 'Bridget Isn't Anyone's Old Bat' 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' Review: Renée Zellweger Charms in What Feels Like a Sweetly Romantic but Mild Finale For director Michael Morris, 'Mad About a Boy' marks only his second feature and came his way after a chance meeting with Fielding at a friend's house. As she described the story of the novel he says it got him thinking about what would happen if he mixed 'Bridget Jones' with 'Truly Madly Deeply.' Speaking to Variety, the Brit discusses going with his instincts to cast Leo Woodall before 'One Day' and explains why he thinks the first Bridget Jones films — while they may be looked upon as outdated now — were never intended to be misogynistic. Your debut feature was 'To Leslie' which was hugely well received and took Andrea Riseborough to the Oscars. That film was about a single woman dealing with a few issues, but in a much less colourful and rom-com world than that of 'Mad About the Boy.' Did you see a connection between the two? It's funny, because I've occasionally stopped to observe that myself. On face value, they're very different. What does one have to do with the other? But they are very much are entwined. There's a lot of shared DNA in an odd way, as you say, in these sort of compellingly flawed women at the very front and center, in every frame of the movie, pretty much. And both movies really sort of chart them finding that they have to adjust themselves. Obviously, one is in the drama world very squarely, and one isn't, but they do have to adjust their learned behavior and lived behavior in a quite uncomfortable way in order to be able to move forward. It's pretty fun, the challenge. This was one of the reasons I really wanted to do the film – can you do a comedy of grief? It's a challenge. It's a slightly different twist on the rom-com, because you want to be able to satisfy the comedy. You really want people to have fun and to laugh. It's part of Bridget's universe, but you also want to allow enough space in the filmmaking and the storytelling for the audience to inhabit those other more emotional parts. So how did this film come your way? Before 'To Leslie' you were a relatively untested director in the film world, but had obviously done a lot of TV It came just almost coincidentally. One evening I was at a friend of mine's house, and Helen Fielding was there. I never met Helen before, but we started chatting about what she was doing next and she said, 'Well, I've got this book that hasn't been done yet.' She started to describe it and describe how Mark Darcy was dead. I hadn't read the book, so for me, I had the experience a lot of people have, which was like: what Mark Darcy's dead? And I immediately thought, in my own sort of filmmaker lizard brain, it's like, what happens if you cross 'Bridget Jones' with 'Truly Madly Deeply.' And it just led to a long conversation and, fortunately, some of the television stuff that I had done Helen really loved. And so it came from there. Were you involved in the casting process? You've brought back all the old favourites, but this time we've also got both Chiwetel Ejiofar and Leo Goodall. That's the wonderful thing about about Working Title is that they really do support their filmmakers. So even though this is a big franchise for them, we very much approached it as: Who do you want? Who do you want cast? And this is maybe the power of the franchise or the power of Working Title — I'm not accustomed to wielding any of that — but I got the actors that I wanted. I literally sat down with (casting director) Lucy Bevan and (producer) Eric Felner and the team, and was like, do you think there's a chance that we could get Chiwetel? Chiwetel's rejoining the Working Title rom-com universe! Of course, he did 'Love Actually.' And he's done nothing else since then! Ha! But to get someone with those kind of dramatic chops to play a romantic lead in a film like this … it just inspires you to keep making the film, which is maybe a little bit different in its personality than the previous Bridgets. And Leo, we cast him actually before 'One Day' had come out. I fell in love with him in 'The White Lotus.' He has such an outsized presence in that and inhabits every scene he's in with so much confidence. And I really wanted that from from this part, because I just wanted the audience to fall in love with him right from the get go. And now casting Leo feels like a really inspired choice You've got to listen to your instincts. Because I wasn't the only one. They cast him in 'One Day' for a reason too. But he's got it. He's an absolute star. So yes, I'm pretty lucky. The first Bridget came out more than 20 years ago, which was a very different time. I remember when this film was first announced, there were a few murmurings of discontent about how Bridget was a little dated and misogynistic and probably wasn't right for our times. Was that something you considered before setting out on this? I understand those comments and I saw similar ones. But I think of it a bit differently, because I remember seeing the movie in 2001 when I was making my own way in London. It was a very different time. We make contemporary films, I think, as documents of the time that we're in. I was not part of the first films at all, but I don't believe that the intent of the filmmakers was in any way to be misogynistic or to partake in terrible things like fat shaming. I think what they were doing, if anything, was shining a light, in a comedic way, on those pressures that existed and on those things. Knowing Renée, she approaches everything with this warmth and I think she's always felt of Bridget as being representative of women who have had to deal with all that shit in the past. And now I think it's just effortless to leave some of that behind, because I'm not making that film. It wouldn't feel right in any way for her to be chronicling her weight in her diary, because that's just not the pressure that she's under. She's under a whole load of other pressures. Women are under all kinds of other pressures in the age of Instagram to be perfectly slick and tidy and on time and all this other stuff. But it's just not in the same categories as it was. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
The Guardian
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bridget Jones 4 records highest-ever opening for a romcom in the UK
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has exceeded expectations at the UK box office, becoming the best-performing romcom in the UK on opening weekend ever. The fourth instalment in the adventures of Helen Fielding's bumbling diarist made $14.9m (£11.8m) over its four-day opening weekend, beating all three previous instalments, the second of which, Edge of Reason, was the previous record-holder with $8.1m. It is also the best ever opening for British production outfit Working Title film – and above the opening weekend for Oppenheimer, another recent hit from Universal, the Hollywood studio that distributes Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The film marks Universal's 11th best opening, just behind Jurassic World Dominion. The film, which opened alongside new titles such as Captain America: Brave New World, accounted for 45% of the UK box office take over the weekend, while exhibitor Everyman delivered their largest ever three-day opening, beating the record previously set by the most recent James Bond film, No Time to Die. However, while pre-sales were reported last week to have outstripped Barbie, in the end Michael Morris's fourquel fell short of that £18.5m opening enjoyed by Greta Gerwig's satire. Mad About the Boy, which sees Renée Zellweger's heroine now widowed with two young children, and choosing between suitors Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor, also opened strongly in territories such as Australia and Mexico, as well as across Europe. In the US, however, it has gone straight to streaming through Peacock.
