Latest news with #MarkDarcy
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Renee Zellweger reveals the Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy scenes that made her break down into tears
Renee Zellweger has revealed what scenes in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy caused her to cry on set, despite the moment not calling for tears. Zellweger, 56, has recently returned to her legendary role of Bridget Jones in the latest installment of the series, which takes place four years after the death of her on-screen husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Firth, 64, makes several cameos in the film, with his character appearing before Renee as a vision. While Bridget is said to have made peace with the loss, Zellweger could not help but get emotional once she saw Firth in costume, she said at the FYC event on Saturday, according to Variety. Director Michael Morris, 51, revealed Zellweger cried filming the moments, and the actress called the realization it would be the 'end of' of their 'shared journey' together a 'gut punch.' Zellweger explained it was difficult to film as the scenes did not call for Bridget to be emotional. 'Yet seeing him there on the sidewalk in his Mark Darcy finery with his briefcase and coat, it just got to me,' she explained. 'I didn't expect to be so emotional about the end of this shared journey with my friend, recognizing, "Oh, wait, he's gonna wrap today, and that's it." And the finality of it just really was a gut punch. 'Isn't that crazy? Because when you get lucky, beyond getting to work with your friends, once you know, it sounds so silly, but it felt very profound in the moment,' she explained before letting out a laugh. 'Maybe I'm crazy because maybe I love a fictional character!' The long-awaited sequel sees Zellweger reprise her role as the titular heroine, and sees her adjusting to life as widowed single mother following the shock death of Darcy and returning to the dating scene. The actress looked absolutely radiant as she attended the Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy FYC event, held at the the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Saturday. She posed posed up a storm in a fitted burgundy suit dress with her blonde hair styled into a chic bun and her feet slipped into classic Christian Louboutin heels. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was released earlier this year, and Renee has remained in-demand, recently spotted filming Only Murders In The Building in NYC. Renee's iconic singleton finally married Mark Darcy in the most recent film, 2016's Bridget Jones' Baby. The couple had shared an on-and-off romance across all three films, which are based on the Helen Fielding book series, but finally got their happy ending after it was revealed the high-flying lawyer was the father of her baby. However, in the fourth book and film, Mark tragically dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and battling motherhood alone.
Geek Wire
09-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Tech Moves: Microsoft AI adds CVP; WatchGuard CEO steps down; Amazon vet joins Hims & Hers
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Mark D'Arcy. (Photo via LinkedIn) Former Meta and Time Warner exec Mark D'Arcy is joining Microsoft as a corporate vice president working on the tech giant's consumer AI products. D'Arcy is the new global creative director for Microsoft AI, reporting to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. D'Arcy spent more than a decade at Meta in creative and marketing leadership roles. He was at Time Warner for nearly seven years as chief creative officer and later president. The Information first reported D'Arcy's new role, which Microsoft confirmed to GeekWire. D'Arcy will work with engineering, design, and advertising teams to help boost marketing strategy for Microsoft's generative AI Copilot assistant that is embedded within various applications such as Word and Bing. Copilot competes with several chatbots from companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, and others. Last month Microsoft unveiled a series of updates to Copilot, including a new personalized memory feature designed to recall details from a user's life across conversations. Suleyman joined Microsoft last year after co-founding Inflection AI and previously leading applied AI at DeepMind. Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry: Prakash Panjwani. (LinkedIn Photo) — WatchGuard Technologies CEO Prakash Panjwani is leaving his post and will transition to serving on the cybersecurity company's board of directors and as a strategic advisor. Vats Srivatsan, an operating partner at Vector Capital, will become interim CEO as WatchGuard looks for a permanent replacement. During his decade at Seattle-based WatchGuard, Panjwani oversaw six strategic acquisitions, mostly recently the purchase of ActZero in January. The company more than tripled its annual recurring revenue under his leadership and also tripled its global employee headcount. 'Few leaders leave the kind of legacy he has — shaping not only the company's strategy, but also producing consistent strong performance and operational excellence,' said Alex Slusky, founding partner and managing director of Vector Capital, WatchGuard's majority owner, in a statement. Nader Kabbani. (Hims & Hers Photo) — Longtime Amazon Vice President Nader Kabbani is now chief operations officer Hims & Hers, a telehealth company that sells direct-to-consumer treatments for conditions such as erectile dysfunction and hair loss. At Amazon, Kabbani most recently held leadership roles in health-related initiatives including managing the company's vaccination task force — which helped employees receive COVID-19 shots — Amazon Pharmacy, and PillPack. His more than 18-year tenure at the Seattle company also included VP positions with last mile, logistics and Kindle operations. — And another Amazonian has taken a new role: Parisa Sadrzadeh, former VP of the company's worldwide delivery service partner program, is now a vice president of DoorDash. Sadrzadeh was at Amazon for nearly 12 years, then moved to Bellevue, Wash.-based Flexport to serve as executive VP. 'I've spent the past decade building technology to empower small businesses globally, and this next chapter of my journey builds off of that experience by moving into physical commerce — a critical area I'm super excited about innovating in for both merchants and the consumers they serve,' Sadrzadeh said on LinkedIn. Gulliver Swenson. (Photo via LinkedIn) — Boundless, a Seattle company with tools for simplifying the immigration process, added two leaders: Gulliver Swenson joins Boundless as VP of people and general counsel. Swenson was previously at Assurance IQ for more than six years and helped lead the company through its acquisition by Prudential. Swenson began his career in a general law practice at Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland. joins Boundless as VP of people and general counsel. Swenson was previously at Assurance IQ for more than six years and helped lead the company through its acquisition by Prudential. Swenson began his career in a general law practice at Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland. Rachel Pepple is now VP of marketing at Boundless. Pepple, who also holds a law degree, comes to the role from Carbon Direct, a startup helping companies manage their climate impacts. Prior to that position, Pepple was a marketing lead at the cybersecurity company ExtraHop for seven years, during which time the business was acquired for $900 million. — Raymond 'R.J.' Ford left his role as general manager for Zillow Group. 'After 15 unforgettable years, I'm closing my Zillow laptop one last time and I'm grateful, humbled, and incredibly proud,' he said on LinkedIn. Ford joined the Seattle real estate company in 2009 and has most recently been Zillow's GM of agent software and advertising for more than nine years. Over his tenure, Ford received five 'leader of the year' awards from his team. He did not disclose what he will be doing next. — Kyle Widrick is now a venture partner at the consumer-oriented investment firm Maveron. The firm, which got its start in Seattle and has offices in San Francisco, has been growing its presence in New York City, which is where Widrick is based. Widrick is 'a serial entrepreneur, a prolific angel investor and has a particular superpower in investing at the frontier of wellness,' said Maveron partner Jason Stoffer in announcing the news. — Gensler, an architecture, design firm and planning firm, appointed Bert deViterbo as managing director of its Seattle office. DeViterbo has been with the company for 14 years and recently relocated from San Francisco. 'Seattle is at an inflection point coming out of the pandemic and I'm optimistic about the future of the city,' deViterbo said in a statement. 'I believe that design has a powerful role to play in shaping the future of Seattle's sports, tech, sciences and higher education sectors, driving collective cultural and economic growth for the region.' — BuyWander added Brent Hendricks as head of operations. Hendricks founded Global Neighborhood, a nonprofit thrift and vintage store that provides workforce training for refugees, which he oversaw for nearly 20 years. Spokane, Wash.-based BuyWander uses AI and other tech to scan, sort and identify thousands of new and like-new products and sell them through an online auction marketplace. Shoppers collect their merchandise with curbside pickup, and warehouses also serve as bin stores where customers can dig for deals. The startup recently raised $2 million. — Seattle attorney Jennifer Dumas joined as senior lead council. Dumas was previously general counsel for the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) and an adjust professor at Seattle University's School of Law. Apollo is a Phoenix based advertising company. — Chuck Cory, a tech and investment banking leader with a 33-year run at Morgan Stanley, joined the board of directors of Cory is also an angel investor in Weave, a Seattle company providing AI services to financial institutions and global corporations to help them manage emerging risks, competitive shifts, complex regulations and new business opportunities. — Teradata hired John Ederer of Medina, Wash., as chief financial officer. Ederer was most recently CFO for Model N and K2 Software. San Diego-based Teradata is a cloud analytics and data platform for AI. — Justin Donaldson is chief data scientist for Curvo, a startup is developing technology to improve healthcare supply chains. Donaldson was previously a co-founder of a Kirkland, Wash., startup applying AI to in-house data analysis, and worked in the Seattle area as a data scientist/engineer at Salesforce for nearly a decade. — Trellis Health, a startup co-located in Seattle and San Francisco, formed a medical advisory board. The company is building an online platform for individuals to manage their health data. The board appointees are: — Seattle-area leader Sean Kell joined the board of directors and investor group at The company provides online resources about treatment for addiction and mental health. Kell is CEO of MD², the Bellevue-based concierge medical group. His past titles include chief executive of the retail diamond company Blue Nile and A Place for Mom, as well as leadership roles at Expedia and Starbucks. — Seattle's Circulate added Matt Kaeberlein to its scientific advisory board. The startup launched last year and is developing technologies and treatments that aim to reverse aging and improve health. Kaeberlein is a UW affiliate professor of oral health and CEO of the biotech startup Optispan.
The Independent
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Renee Zellweger recalls how Colin Firth made her cry on first day filming new Bridget Jones movie
Renee Zellweger has recalled how her Bridget Jones co-star Colin Firth made her cry on first day filming their new film, Mad About The Boy. The much-anticipated fourth film in the Bridget franchise hit cinemas in the UK on Thursday (13 February), and sees everyone's favourite heroine navigating life following the death of her husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, the Bridget actor revealed she felt very emotional returning to the set to film with Firth. She said: 'There was Colin was standing there in all his Mark Darcy, with his little suitcase, I started welling up.'
The Independent
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Bridget Jones director shares Colin Firth's emotional reaction to film
Director Michael Morris has opened up about Colin Firth 's involvement in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, including his reaction to scenes in the new film. Speculation had swirled that Firth would be axed from the film entirely, and there were doubts whether his character Mark Darcy would be killed off. The film is the fourth instalment of the popular franchise that became a cultural phenomenon when romantic comedy Bridget Jones's Diary was released in diary originated as a column written by The Independent journalist Helen Fielding, the film version became a box office smash and received an Oscar nomination for its leading actor Renée Zellweger. *Spoilers ahead* 'From the book there are no secrets because you know that Mark Darcy has died,' Morris told The Independent. However, the To Leslie director was adamant on keeping Firth's plot line a secret. 'We did want to protect that because it was really important to me. There's lots of ways to tell that story. The simple way of saying, 'Mark Darcy's died,' but I didn't want to tell it that way.' He added: 'I wanted the first 10-15 minutes for us not to know. Just to witness a day in her life, a chaotic night in her life where she's got to be somewhere, she's late, and one of the things that happens is she sees him. 'And it's very important to me to present that relationship as if it were real and happening because that's how Bridget at the beginning of the film is dealing with loss.' The film follows serious themes of grief, interspersed with Zellweger's character involved in an age-gap fling with a younger man, Roxter, played by Leo Woodall. 'She's not dealing with it in the way that perhaps she ought to, which is to sort of accept it,' he said. 'She's pretending and she sees him when she needs him and she gets comfort from him and there's still so much love between them.' He added: 'That's one one secret that I wanted to save because I didn't want it to be known how we were going to use him.' The filmmaker revealed Firth's emotional reaction to his role in the film as he shared: 'For Colin, he was on board and it was so sad that we couldn't use him more. But he's so brilliant and he's so iconic in this role.' He continued: 'Colin said something really interesting to me. He said when he came to the set that we built of the house, and there were all these pictures from the last 25 years on the bookshelves of Bridget and Mark, of him as a young man in his 20s, and he walked through that set that he hadn't been part of. 'He just came and he was like, 'It's odd, I've walked through this, this is like a whole other life and they were all real pictures.' 'And he said, 'I felt like that memory. I felt what we were making in the film, that I wasn't there, but I am there, I'm not there, but I am.' So it was really touching.'
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New Bridget Jones film surpasses Barbie in advance UK box office sales
The forthcoming Bridget Jones movie, Mad About The Boy, is off to a promising start at the box office, with pre-release tickets already outselling Greta Gerwig's blockbuster movie Barbie. According to data shared by two major UK cinema chains one week ahead of the film's 13 February release, the film was already outselling Barbie in the comparative pre-sale period. Odeon has reported sales of around 70,000 tickets, outselling Barbie in the same period. The company told Screen Daily that 20 per cent of tickets had been sold for the Thursday preview day, and around a third for Valentine's Day (14 February). Curzon has said that advance sales of the film were 20 per cent ahead of Barbie's sales in the same period. Damian Spandley, managing director of programming and sales at Curzon, has credited the film's pre-release sales due to the smart Valentine's Day scheduling. Digital Cinema Media projects the film to rank third at the UK and Ireland box office this year, behind Disney's Avatar: Fire And Ash (19 December release) and Universal's Wicked: For Good (21 November release). However, it's unlikely that the film will surpass total UK and Ireland box office sales of Gerwig's Barbie, which saw huge fanfare at the time of release, with fans arriving at cinemas dressed in Barbie pink. During its opening weekend in the UK and Ireland, Barbie made £18.4 million at the box office, and £95.7 million in total. Forecasts for UK and Ireland opening weekend box office for Mad About The Boy are in line with the £8.1 million achieved by the third film, Bridget Jones's Baby in 2016. The promising early sales for Mad About The Boy could be explained by the anticipation that comes with the nine-year gap from the last film, with the Valentine's Day timing drawing in 'Galentine's' audiences – groups of female friends celebrating 14 February together. The fourth film in the franchise, based on Helen Fielding's 2013 book, sees Bridget navigate 'life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover Daniel. Back to work and on the dating apps, following the death of her husband and father of her children, Mark Darcy'. Uproar over the death of Colin Firth's Mark Darcy made front page news when Fielding's novel was published in 2013. Early film viewers have been left similarly distressed, with many leaving the cinema in tears. Speaking to The Guardian, Zellweger – who has played the titular character since 2001 – admitted Darcy's death had a huge emotional impact on her, too, leaving her feeling 'rotten'. 'I was a crazy person mourning this fictional character,' she said. 'I was weeping.' 'It was also for that shared experience with Colin,' the Oscar-winning actor added. 'Seeing him in his suit and beautiful coat, with his briefcase, looking dapper and very Mark Darcy. 'This is the end…we don't get to do this anymore,' Zellweger said. Following Darcy's death, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays her son's science teacher, and Leo Woodall are in the film as love interests for Bridget. Speaking at the movie's London premiere this week, Zellweger addressed the age gap between her 51-year-old Bridget and Woodall's 29-year-old Roxster. 'I mean, I think it's nothing new,' she told Variety. 'But maybe the social taboos are melting away… it's never a bad thing. There's certain things that we probably don't need to have opinions about, and where people find love… why would that ever be a problem?'
