Like romance with a man who won’t judge your love handles, a third Bridget Jones film has long been promised, yet it's remained distant and aloof for over two years now. But Entertainment Weekly is now saying, again, that it really, truly will happen, with Working Title Films officially moving ahead with the project at Universal, and hoping to rescue the franchise after it plummeted off The Edge Of Reason in 2004. Of course, Bridget Jones 3 remains charmingly caddish and just won’t commit yet: Author Helen Fielding is said to still be writing the third installment, while only Renee Zellweger remains locked in to reprise the role that will likely define her entire film career, unless she makes some sort of latter-day Jessica Tandy turnaround.
However, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig is reportedly negotiating to take over the sequel, and should he officially sign on, expect the project to happen quickly to take advantage of the lingering goodwill. Meanwhile, Oscar-winner-who-doesn’t-really-have-to-do-this-but-seems-game-for-it-anyway Colin Firth has already publicly mused on the plot, saying it would find Jones leaving Firth’s character for long enough to get pregnant by Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver, “and I think he dumps her, and she’s left stranded, and guess who comes back to rescue her?” Timecop? Probably Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Timecop.