At the start of the New Year, 32-year-old Bridget (Renée Zellweger) decides it's time to take control of her life -- and start keeping a diary. Now, the most provocative, erotic and hysterical book on her bedside table is the one she's writing. With a taste for adventure, and an opinion on every subject - from exercise to men to food to sex and everything in between - she's turning the page on a whole new life. The role earned Zellweger her first Academy Award nomination, along with Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations. Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Baby). 

After the Screening: A conversation featuring director Sharon Maguire and Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and SAG Award winner Renée Zellweger, who recently starred in and served as Executive Producer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025), the fourth and final installment of the Bridget Jones franchise. 

Sharon Maguire started her filmmaking career as a BBC and Channel 4 television documentarian, directing Channel 4’s The Media Show and BBC’s The Late Show. She also directed for the BAFTA-winning series Bookmark. In 2001, Sharon made her feature film directorial debut with the smash hit BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY. The film was a worldwide success, earning Renee Zellweger an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. For her next project, Sharon wrote and directed the drama, INCENDIARY, which starred Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. In 2015, she launched the TV production company Seven Stories. Sharon directed the third installment of the BRIDGET JONES franchise, BRIDGET JONES’S BABY, as well as the feature film GODMOTHERED, starring June Squibb.

Renée Zellweger is one of the most cherished and respected actors in modern cinema. Her remarkable career has garnered her an impressive array of career achievements. Nominated for four Academy Awards, Zellweger has won two: Best Supporting actress for Cold Mountain in 2004 and Best actress for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the Pathé International/Roadside Attraction biographical film Judy in 2020. Zellweger is also a seven-time Golden Globe winner, recognized for her roles in Nurse Betty, Chicago, Cold Mountain, and Judy. At the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, she has received three wins, including Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Judy. Additionally, she has been honored with two Critics Choice Awards. Zellweger is currently starring in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth and final installment of the Bridget Jones franchise. To date, the film has grossed over $120 million worldwide at the international box office. In 2001, Zellweger starred in Bridget Jones’s Diary for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination, also earning Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA nominations. As a whole, the franchise has amassed over $850 million worldwide. In 2002, Zellweger starred as convicted killer ‘Roxie Hart’ in Chicago and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in this Oscar-winning film version of the Tony-winning musical. Additional awards followed including a Golden Globe Award and a SAG Award. She then won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain and also garnered a Golden Globe Award and best supporting role nominations from SAG, BAFTA. Zellweger made her television debut in Netflix’s neo-noir social thriller What/If in 2019, and NBC’s The Thing About Pam followed in 2022. She will next serve as executive producer on the upcoming thriller series Raising Wild, starring Cynthia Erivo for Apple TV+ through her Big Picture Co.. Big Picture Co. recently entered a two-year, exclusive first-look deal with MGM Television. Under the pact, Zellweger and her producing partner Carmella Casinelli will develop new scripted projects for which Zellweger will potentially direct and star. After graduating with an English degree from the University of Texas, Zellweger did some initial film and television work before making her feature debut in Richard Linklater’s seminal coming-of-age film Dazed and Confused. Other film roles quickly followed, including Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites, Love and a .45, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and My Boyfriend’s Back. Zellweger soon after won the affection of audiences with her breakthrough role opposite Tom Cruise in Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire. Subsequent film roles for Zellweger have included the acclaimed One True Thing with William Hurt and Meryl Streep, the dark comedy Nurse Betty opposite Chris Rock and Morgan Freeman, Me, Myself & Irene opposite Jim Carrey, the drama White Oleander with Robin Wright and Michelle Pfeiffer, Peyton Reed’s romantic comedy Down with Love opposite Ewan McGregor, director Ron Howard’s Depression-era boxing drama Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe, the film adaptation of the book Same Kind of Different as Me, opposite Greg Kinnear and Djimon Hounsou, and The Whole Truth, opposite Keanu Reeves. She has also lent her voice to such animated features as DreamWorks’ Shark Tale, Bee Movie and Monsters vs. Aliens.