Although he was a fan of Bridget Jones, Chiwetel Ejiofor by no means thought he’d play a job within the franchise. “Suddenly, something pops up and then somebody says to you, ‘Do you want to look at the new Bridget Jones film?’” he says. “And you think, Well, I’d never thought about that. I love Bridget Jones, but I’ve never thought about it in that context.”
And identical to that, Ejiofor was forged as Mr. Wallaker, a realistic science instructor, in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth installment within the beloved romantic comedy franchise starring Renee Zellweger because the titular heroine, which hit Peacock on February 14.
In the movie, the 12 Years a Slave star begins at odds with the lately widowed Bridget Jones, blowing his whistle with maybe a bit an excessive amount of drive when she’s dropping off her kids, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic), in school within the morning. “I love the fact that he was buttoned up with his whistle and this almost antagonistic character, initially,” Ejiofor says. “But then he reveals something, over the course of the film, that’s increasingly warm.”
Below, Ejiofor chats with Vanity Fair about age-gap relationships; writing, directing, and starring in work on Rob Peace (2024); and attending to know the American Zellweger when the press tour started.
Jay Maidment/Universal Pictures
Vanity Fair: What was your relationship to Bridget Jones going into Mad About the Boy?
Chiwetel Ejiofor: I assumed Renée was so sensible in it. I’d been acquainted with her at that time actually solely from Jerry Maguire. And I bear in mind how sensible she was in that movie. To see her in this type of magical transformation into this English character was simply actually spectacular.
As a British actor, what was it like watching Renée, who’s initially from Texas, rework and play an English individual?
It was attention-grabbing as a result of she did not actually rework. From the second that I met her she was in her Bridget Jones accent. She at all times got here throughout as a British individual. It’s solely been once we’ve been doing press now that I’ve heard her truly as herself, as a Texan. Initially, it was form of stunning, a bit odd. It’s like assembly anyone for the primary time that you have truly been spending loads of time with. It’s a bit discombobulating, however I suppose why it is so convincing when she’s truly on digital camera.
So, even off digital camera when the cameras weren’t rolling she was doing a British accent?
Everything, on a regular basis. And even on the cellphone calling house or no matter, in case you occurred to be close to her, she would nonetheless be Bridget. It’s superb. That’s why it appears like magic, what she does, since you positively really feel such as you’re within the presence of Bridget Jones on a regular basis.
There are positively some Mr. Darcy components to your character, Mr. Wallaker. How involved have been you by way of bringing a recent component to this franchise?