Wow we already reached the threshold???? (I like the ongoing saga;) v.v. BJ!

No, but we were getting close (1999 is the max), so you can go back to old one. ;-)

Eh, I like the new one;) BTW, Laura Zigman has new book out, Dating Big Bird. Just came out;)

Ah, here is some write-ups on it. It will be released April 11, 2000 Ellen Franck wants nothing more than to have a baby of her own. Already well into her thirties, she is beginning to fear that her "gumball machine" of eggs is getting low and that her time is running out. Unmarried and working in a fast-paced fashion-industry job, Ellen is dating Malcolm, an emotionally closed-off man who is so scarred by the death of his young son that he doesn't want any more children. Thus begins Ellen's search for a solution to her dilemma and the question she ultimately faces: Is she ready to have a baby by herself? Ellen's desire for a child is only fueled by the fact that she is surrounded by people having babies, including her boss, Karen, and her sister, Lynn. Lynn's first child, Nicole, is the ideal child in Ellen's eyes, and she spends every moment she can with Nicole, whom she has nicknamed "the Pickle." Ellen's closest single friend, Amy, wants a child as much as Ellen does, and they spend most of their time together commiserating about their dead-end relationships and envying eople with children. Kristine Huntley From Kirkus Reviews A year-in-the-life of a single, Manhattan career woman intent on making babies before her ovarian ``gum-ball machine'' dispenses its last egg: a tale that makes for laughs and touching momentsif little insight. Thirty-five-year-old Ellen Franck lives the New York dream. The marketing genius behind a prestigious fashion designer, she rubs shoulders with the rich and famous, has a great apartment and a hectic social lifebut no baby. Career dedication left Ellen little time to ponder procreation... read more Book Description At thirty-five, Ellen Franck has a life many people dream about--a glamorous fashion industry job, an apartment in Greenwich Village, good friends--and yet Ellen is restless. Two years ago, the sight of her newborn niece, Nicole, (a.k.a. "The Pickle") made her realize what she was missing: a child of her own. But there's one problem. Malcolm, the man she loves, is too scarred by the long-ago death of his young son to ever consider fatherhood again.

Since we're talking Laura Zigman, do you recognize her? Old Cow? New Cow? ;-)

Yep, but now she's Dating Big Bird!

Why does that cow have five teats?

(Arami)Why does that cow have five teats? Why not? (in cartoons, anything is possible!)

I came across this in the "Sydney Telegraph" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SINGLE LIFE IS "SELFISH" London: The Princess Royal has accused the single life of the so-called "Bridget Jones generation" of being "plain selfish". In an interview with The Times newspaper the Princess also said life was becoming in increasingly isolating. The life of the singleton was captured by the fictional character Bridget Jones in the best-selling book by British author Helen Fielding. But the Princess said the decision of single people to maximise their independence by living alone was "no good". "Life in general nowadays is more and more isolating" she said. "It could mean just plain selfish".

Gaah! Do you think she has read the book?

The Royals are addicted to reading, plus she has a daughter who sports a pierced tongue. ;-)

London: The Princess Royal has accused the single life of the so-called "Bridget Jones generation" of being "plain selfish". Well, not everyone *must* produce heirs to the crown...

Here's the article: True Romance Fame has come full circle for Colin Firth. He won the heart of very woman in the country as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Now he's set to play Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones's Diary. A case of art imitating art� but without the sideburns William Leith Sunday April 9, 2000 The Observer Colin Firth! Mr Darcy! You cannot mention one of these names without the other following immediately. Both have been changed immeasurably, in the public eye, by their relationship with the other. Before the Firth treatment, Mr Darcy was seen as a dour, mildly unpleasant, if misunderstood character in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Before he was Darcy, Colin Firth was a tall, well-built English actor with an expressive face and a string of smouldering, half-forgotten characters behind him. He'd been Robert Lawrence, the wounded Falklands veteran; he'd been Valmont in the Milos Forman film of the same name; he'd been a nutcase in a Ruth Rendell crime drama. And then, in 1994, he was cast as Mr Darcy. What was so special about Mr Darcy? Women loved him. For a great part of the BBC's version in the story, he hung around in the background, not saying much. Firth did a lot of his acting with his eyes. Other characters talked a great deal about him while he was absent. Unlike a lot of male heroes, he was a mystery. He was in no way a feminised wimp. Late in the day, burning with passion and unfulfilled sexual desire, he jumped off his horse into a pond and emerged, his shirt dripping. What people remember is those mutton-chop sideburns flying through the air. For the entire Bridget Jones generation, this was a superb antidote to the dull, whining, noncommittal New Man of the 90s - and he didn't drink lager and go on about football all the time. Since then, Firth has become part of the zeitgeist. He has entered the language. After Darcy, of course, he was playing a 90s football fan - the Nick Hornby character in Fever Pitch. Next, rumour has it, he will play Mark Darcy in the film version of Bridget Jones's Diary. The official status of the rumour, according to a spokesperson from Working Title, the film's production company, is 'unconfirmed'. Still, it's pretty exciting. Bridget has already interviewed a fictional version of Firth himself in the second Bridget Jones book, The Edge of Reason. In the world of Colin Firth, art is beginning to copy art. At the moment of Darcy, Firth, who was 34, was wondering how much time he had left as a romantic lead. Having accepted the part, he said, 'I don't know how much longer that sort of character will be available to me.' Afterwards, he was stunned at the way people identified him with the character. 'I felt as if I'd lost my whole personality,' he says. He tells me: 'It's been very strange, this idea of Mr Darcy appealing so much to women. Because obviously, as you can see, I don't carry that around with me. I'm not so Mr Darcy every day of my life. If people expect to see a saturnine, dark, smouldering tall aristocrat, they are going to be disappointed.' At rest, Firth's face is set in a sort of handsome grimace, he looks easily haunted. The mouth turns slightly down; the bones of the face cast shadows. But his expressions change with almost no effort; as an acting tool, this is a highly strung face. One slight touch on the happy pedal and he beams; an iota of misery and he glowers. 'I never saw myself as Mr Ugly, but I'm not that handsome,' he told me. 'I can sort of be made to look quite a lot better or quite a lot worse.' I first meet Colin Firth, now 39, on the set of Donovan Quick, a forthcoming BBC television film in which, as usual, he plays an intense, edgy fellow who hides behind a mask of English reticence. He is genial and welcoming, and speaks in that unusual, slightly old-fashioned voice which is perfect for costume drama. That's his actual voice. In person, Firth is not at all like Darcy. There is no sense of menace. Firth's character, obsessed with the tyranny of a national bus company, starts his own. Firth spends the day patiently approaching the bus, and entering the bus, and entering the bus, over and over. He takes instructions from the director, David Blair, with absolute humility. Before we meet again, I catch him several times on TV. He's prolific, having made more than 30 films, and you can often get a glimpse of him late at night, in a youthful guise. Sometimes he has a caddish moustache. Early Firth looked jittery and worried. The mature, smouldering Firth came later. Firth is very English; he plays people who hide their emotions. He often appears melancholic. Firth himself had an unhappy childhood. He once said: 'I'm very suspicious of people who romanticise their childhood.' Firth is married to Livia Guiggioli, an Italian documentary maker. Nick Hornby describes her as 'joke-perfect: PhD, beautiful in that sultry Italian way, funny and vivacious'. She is also, he says, 'very good for Firth, because she's absolutely not in any thrall to him'. She 'affects to be completely mystified' by the Mr Darcy situation. For three years in the 90s, Firth lived with the actress Meg Tilly, whom he fell in love with on the set of Milos Forman's Valmont. They have a son, Will, who is now nine. We met again, recently, in a film production office in London's West End. Again, Firth is impeccably warm and charming. He wears neutral clothes; his hair is on the short side of bouffant. Firth's hair is either quite short or quite long, never very short or very long. His characters are always outwardly respectable. He tells me he is about to go to Los Angeles to spend time with his son. He says, 'Los Angeles can actually be quite a relaxing place, but the minute you try to invest anything in it, it grabs you and starts to play games with you.' He already sounds like a character in a film. Another reason he is going to California, Firth says, is for 'my own personal relaxation, which is doing very little indeed'. He lived in Canada with Tilly, three hours inland from Vancouver. 'I'm too much of a lightweight for it,' he says. 'It's wilderness. Serious wilderness. It's not a trip to Wimbledon Common. And I rather fancied the quaint idea of the wilderness. It's really the middle of nowhere.' The move, he says, had been Tilly's decision. 'She found the place. I had a kind of reclusive impulse at the time, but not that reclusive. It was too wild. If you go north from where we were, there'd be nothing but woods and grizzly bears, until you get to the Arctic Circle. I found that oppressive. You couldn't even go for walks. There were instructions about going for walks. You take a flare and a map and a blanket and a bell, because within 20 minutes you can get lost by going round in circles.' Firth is gentlemanly, affable. With his deep, old-fashioned voice, he talks as if he were in a smoking room, holding a brandy bubble. We were quickly on to the subject of his childhood. Having been born in Africa, where his parents were teachers, he came to England at the age of four. Then, after stints in Billericay and Brentwood, the family moved to St Louis, Missouri, for a year. Firth was 12. When they came back to England, it was to another town, just outside Winchester. The young Firth felt unsettled. The year in America, he says, 'didn't feel like a very good thing at the time. It was probably a very good thing. I had a very bad time there.' The year abroad had done something to him. 'American kids,' he says, 'were a hell of a lot more sophisticated. I was barely out of grey shorts. I'd come out of primary school, where my classmates had grass-stained knees and collected football cards.' The American kids, on the other hand, 'were more like something out of Woodstock. I was like something out of Just William. They had slogans on their backs that were to do with the Vietnam war. I felt like a geek. I made up for it with a false cockiness. Before I got rejected, I would tell someone to fuck off. Someone would say, "What's your name?" and I'd say, "Mind your own business."' This was how he started: the first serious acting he did was to pretend he was tough, when he was not. Looking at his facial expressions, at the layers of stoicism and reserve, one gets a sense of somebody deeply, quintessentially English. Firth's face was once described in The New York Times as 'strangely neutral'. Unlike Jude Law, or Ralph Fiennes, he does not easily slip into American; being in America as a child only made him more English. The English actors he likes are Albert Finney, Donald Pleasance and Sir Anthony Hopkins - men of elusive emotions and inner struggle. He tells me he went back to his American school in the 90s, and found, to his relief, that it was 'pretty nasty. The place was horrible and had the atmosphere of a reform school. It made me realise that it wasn't all me.' He had acted in pantomimes and school plays since the age of five. 'School plays,' he says, 'were always something where I was definitely praised and in demand; that wasn't true of most aspects of school life for me.' He wasn't the first to be picked for the football team, or particularly academic. When he was 14, he made 'an official announcement to myself' that he wanted to be an actor. After the unsettled childhood, he didn't have a pleasant adolescence. Firth saw the Winchester of the 70s, full of squaddies, Hampshire lads and public schoolboys, as a place seething with menace. 'People will laugh at this, this is going to sound hilarious to some people, but I've felt more threatened in a town in Hampshire than I've felt in central Los Angeles,' he tells me. At school in Winchester, and later at drama school, he resented the fact that people thought of him as posh. He felt conflicted; at school he roughened his accent. Talking about his school clearly makes him uncomfortable. He says, 'Every time I mention school, the headmaster writes to my parents.' This is odd. Here is Colin Firth, the man who played Valmont and Mr Darcy, still under the spell of his old headmaster. Here, perhaps, is a clue to other Firth characters - the evasive, squirming Geoffrey Clifton in The English Patient, the walled-in schoolboy Communist Tommy Judd in Another Country. Was Firth a bad boy at school? Referring to his old headmaster, he says, 'If ever I've suggested that I was, that's what he takes issue with. I was just quietly resistant, in a way. He had a lack of respect for me because I was neither an identifiable wild rebel nor someone who toed the line in a meaningful way.' Firth saw himself as a 'loner', a 'quiet opter-out'. He 'didn't really like the system, I didn't like the education. I didn't fight it very courageously. I just didn't go along with it very much.' As a teenager, he got into some fights, which 'tended to be with close friends, rather than strangers in the street'. He grew his hair long, wore beads and listened to progressive rock. He 'went the hippie route', and felt, he says, like a freak. Nick Hornby says that when Firth was preparing for his role in Fever Pitch, which is about a guy who uses football as an emotional crutch, he 'found the things that were about him... I know he really identified with all that rootless Home Counties stuff, the suburban need to belong.' Firth tells me plainly: 'I didn't like my life while I was at school. I can honestly say I don't feel that I was very happy at school ever.' At 16, the long-haired Yes and King Crimson fan found his feet; he went to sixth-form college. Suddenly, with his flares, his interest in books and rock music, he 'slotted in very nicely with the in-crowd'. But 'academically, it all went to pot'. When punk came along, Firth was not a convert. 'Progressive rock,' he says, 'had become so pompous, and that pompousness suited me, because I had become so well acquainted with it. There was so much snobbery. It was my sanctuary from the laddishness that I didn't fit in with.' He stuck to flares, too - the grandiosity of the late hippie period had become his identity. Once again, he was an outsider. Not feeling like a future heartthrob, Firth moved to London in 1978 to 'get near theatres'. He was miserable. This must have seemed like a last chance, a shot in the dark. He took a job answering the phone for the National Youth Theatre. He had no friends, enjoyed reading Kafka. He 'made tea' at the National Theatre's wardrobe department. He auditioned for a place at the Drama Centre, and got it. Christopher Fettes, who taught Firth there, says that 'as a boy and a young man, Colin was a person of conspicuous intelligence. Real intelligence. It is very rare to have the privilege of training people for the theatre who are by nature poets. And Colin is.' At the Drama Centre, Fettes explains, 'there is an insistence on the Stanislavsky Method'. The approach, which is Russian, is based on using your inner demons to express the emotions of your character; you turn your own frustration into someone else's. Fettes explains that while this approach 'simply doesn't suit the Anglo-Saxon temperament in many, many cases', Firth 'responded to the training on every level, right from the early stages'. Firth was taught the Laban theory of psychological types, and put through the paces of 'Russian emotional freedom and Jewish introspection'. He came to know the 'reality of the inner world'. Fettes says that 'when he was a boy, one saw a potential Paul Schofield in him'. The Drama Centre mounted a production of Hamlet, something they had not done before, and have not done since. Firth played the title role, and was immediately cast as Guy Bennett, the role eventually played in the film by Rupert Everett, in the West End production of Julian Mitchell's Another Country. Firth works best as an old-fashioned Englishman; he's harder to imagine as a foreigner or a contemporary type with an estuary accent. You can't quite see him as Ralph Fiennes's Nazi in Schindler's List, or a Tim Roth druggie. Nor can you see him as a wimp in a romantic comedy, as played by Hugh Grant. He is deeply English; he has managed to use his own troubles and frustrations to play unsettled, seething Englishmen. 'I've not been a peaceful person,' he tells me. Sometimes, he says, while acting on stage, he feels 'waves of loathing' emanating from the audience. Firth is happier to talk about his family background. He has a brother, Jonathan, who is six years younger and also an actor. Jonathan, he says, is 'a real gentleman. I'm much more of a talker. I find him a much more stable and self-contained person.' Whereas Jonathan is 'wry', Colin says of himself: 'A lot of things hit me without me seeing them coming. Disappointments would take me by surprise.' Colin, says Nick Hornby, 'laughs a lot, and likes to make people laugh'. He listens to a lot of music, including opera, and reads a lot. He loves Faulkner, which I wouldn't have expected. His parents met in India; his mother was three and his father was five. His mother's parents were missionaries, although 'they weren't the sort of missionaries who went around converting the natives and bashing people over the head with Christianity'. His father's father was also an ordained minister. You can see where his accent comes from; it's not the cut-glass Sloane accent, but something older, with a whiff of the Raj. Talking to him, you can sometimes see his Imperial cad in The Turn of the Screw; all it took was a pair of mutton-chop sideburns, and the transition was complete. After leaving the Drama Centre, Firth has never been out of work. After Another Country, he had, he says, 'cornered the market in wet, sensitive, naive young chaps'. He was still worried about what he thought of as his 'neutral face' - with such a face, he told one interviewer, he would do better in intense roles. In 1987, there was a breakthrough of sorts - he landed the role of Robert Lawrence, a disabled Falklands veteran, in Tumbledown. This was a chance to be madly intense, and Firth revelled in it. 'I lived with him,' he says of Lawrence. 'And he was a goldmine. An articulate soldier who will talk.' Firth began to identify with Lawrence. He poured himself into the role. He even began to have nightmares about the Falklands war. When he looked at the camera as Lawrence, Firth says, 'his face was in my mind's eye. His face on me.' Firth pauses, and his expression changes. Sometimes his demeanour can appear to change instantly, without apparent effort. He said, 'At the time, I loved to think I was making this incredibly reckless sacrifice for my craft. If I was screwed up at the end, so be it. Now I can see that that was glamorous to me. I wasn't really suffering at all.' There was more intensity. In 1989, Firth was Adrian LeDuc in Apartment Zero, a psychological thriller set in Argentina; Firth studied Argentina, becoming fascinated with the place. He told one interviewer about how he saw tango as a metaphor for Argentina's political situation. Playing neurotics, he said, was 'a laugh'. By the mid-90s, he was a respected leading man, but not quite a star. He'd approached the title role in Valmont as 'the claw in the velvet glove'. Valmont flopped. In 1994, he played a nutcase in Master of the Moor, the Ruth Rendell mystery. And then came Darcy. Firth was offered the part of Mr Darcy in the television production of Pride and Prejudice; it changed the pattern of his career. The role, in which he spends most of the story glowering in the background, and then jumps fully clothed into a pond, made him into a star, and an official heartthrob. After Darcy, Christopher Fettes says, 'there was hardly a woman in England who wouldn't crawl on her knees to Moscow for a touch of his nether lip'. I ask him about Darcy jumping into the pond. Firth says, 'Originally I was supposed to take all my clothes off and jump into the pool naked. The moment where the man... is a man. Instead of a stuffed shirt. He's riding on a sweaty horse, and then he's at one with the elements. But the BBC wasn't going to allow nudity, so an alternative had to be found.' There were meetings. What could Darcy do with the pond, fully clothed? 'The alternative,' Firth says, 'went via underpants, which, actually, were not historical. He would never have worn underpants. They would have looked ridiculous anyway.' In the end, the inevitable decision was reached. As Firth put it, 'If you can't take them all off, just jump in.' The trouble was that Firth himself, as Bridget Jones was to discover, was not allowed to jump into the pond. Firth tells me, 'There's a thing called Wiles disease, which means you can't be insured to jump into a pond, because you can get sick from rat's piss. So we got a stuntman to do the actual dive.' A stuntman did the dive? So those mutton-chop sideburns flying through the air were not Firth. 'Everything is me, except there's a very, very brief shot of the stuntman in midair. Everything else is me.' Darcy, of course, is not a confused, post-feminist wimp. He is not remotely noncommittal. He was the best televisual real man for ages, and appealed directly to the growing constituency of lonely thirtysomething women. In Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the heroine manages to get an interview with him, and asks him about the 'wet-shirt shots'. Then she asks about his next film, which, he tells her, is 'about moss'. I go to see the film about moss, My Life So Far, in which Firth plays a quaint Scottish aristocrat who has invented some new uses for sphagnum moss. He starts off nutty, and begins to smoulder as soon as Ir�ne Jacob appears on the scene. There are some great Firth moments, with the camera closing in on the hyper-expressive face as the tormented eyes slide around. He's also in a film called Londinium, as a man who is 'terribly gentlemanly but suddenly violently irascible' - a touch of the John Cleeses - and has a camp part in Relative Values, a film based on the No�l Coward play, alongside Julie Andrews and Stephen Fry. Firth says he is going to go off on holiday and read some books. 'I'm going through a big Graham Greene phase,' he says. He is an admirer of Ralph Fiennes, and would have loved Fiennes's part in The End of the Affair. 'He's got it covered,' says Firth. It could get quite exasperating, actually. He keeps eating up the things I'd like to do.' Firth twinkles again and laughs. Five years later, it is clear that Firth's tenure as a romantic lead is far from over. It might not be long before we see him in the clutches of Bridget Jones herself. Is that too much to ask? � My Life So Far opens on 12 May nationwide and Relative Values is released in June

According to that, My Life So Far hasn't even opened in the UK yet?? Wasn't that filmed something like 4 years ago now??

I find that odd about _My Life So Far_ not being released in the UK. We saw it last fall (in the US) in an art house, of course. Not a multiplex.

See HE will play Mark Darcy. ;)

Thanks, Karen, for that article. It does ODB justice. If only there were more jurnalists like this.

Thank you Karen...what a super interview. Sad when he talks about Ralph Fiennes doing all the thing he wants to do. When I saw The End of the Affair, I could have wept thinking of Colin in that role. ~~~~~ Would someone pl. explain this to me...: "Firth was taught the Laban theory of psychological types, and put through the paces of 'Russian emotional freedom and Jewish introspection'. He came to know the 'reality of the inner world'.

Was suddenly interrupted.... Livia is a documentary maker now? He likes opera?(Livia's influence, no doubt.) He sounds happy...:-)

Also in the Observer, an article on "High Fidelity" and how successful it has been, using Chicago instead of N.London etc Quotes fron NH and a mention about FP not being true to the book etc Is HF actually released all over the US yet? Anyone seen it, i would love to know what you thought.

RE: High Fidelity It has definitely gotten wide release here, to critical acclaim. Having never read the book, I can't comment on faithfulness, etc. I think it is very well done. Of course, I'm a big fan of John Cusack. Soundtrack was excellent too, although I'm a bit older than the crowd in the movie . Definitely not an anguished thirtysomething anymore :-) I have to admit, I turned to my DH (who also liked it) and said--Gee, this is just a male version of Bridget Jones. Sort of pathetic, whining slob...but sweet in his way.

Lizza go to Odds & Ends for our thoughts on HF. Thank you!!! Karen! Great article. Most of it we already new but the little new stuff was great. Loved your questions, Evelyn. They do need explaining. I will look for Livia s name on any Italian documentary I see. We get RAI TV. The official status of the rumour, according to a spokesperson from Working Title, the film's production company, is 'unconfirmed'. Why are they playing this game? What is the &*()(&%$$## big deal? Make the bloody announcement! Colin should really insist that they do it. Afterall, HG has been confirmed. MD is the co-lead role. Why would he want to wait until the whole cast is announce and therefore diminishing the importance of his co-starring role? Make the call Colin, have them announce it. Of course, there is the possibility that he wanted to meet with RZ in LA first. But he has had plenty of time now.

Thanks for the article Karen. It was great to read. I wish he had of been in "the End of the Affair" - then I would have enjoyed it more.

Getting a bit riled, are we, Moon? ;-) Hugh hasn't been confirmed as yet either. All the articles have said the contracts haven't been finalized. I'd bet they're arguing with Colin about doing a wet scene. He's insisting that "splashing water on his face" is all he'll do anymore. ;-) (Cathey) then I would have enjoyed it more. You and me both. Besides, would've been more "believable" with Colin. So hard to worked up to a drooly, lusty froth with the Rafeman.

Getting a bit riled, are we, Moon? ;-) Hugh hasn't been confirmed as yet either. We have had more a confirmation from Hugh, Karen. You know that. ;-)

I will look for Livia s name on any Italian documentary I see. .. But the article didn't specify "Italian"...maybe she's freelance and does English docs too.Smart girl..hey, they could use two salaries.

(Karen) Hugh hasn't been confirmed as yet either. All the articles have said the contracts haven't been finalized. (Moon) We have had more a confirmation from Hugh, Karen. You know that. ;-) Naw, Karen's right, Moon. Confirmation from Working Title is different than publicity plants and quotes saying how he'd 'like to play the cad.' Facts are facts. Just look at that tripe about HF removing herself in a tiff over RZ's casting. Read it in enough publications and it takes on an air of truth. BTW, 'Armadillo' was never confirmed either... (Karen) I'd bet they're arguing with Colin about doing a wet scene. He's insisting that "splashing water on his face" is all he'll do anymore. ;-) Good point! I can hear him now--"no pond, I beg you, NO POND!"

(Eileen) Good point! I can hear him now--"no pond, I beg you, NO POND!" Precisely, why he be responsible for the risk of some poor stuntman contracting Wile's Disease?

hey, they could use two salaries. Only they ain't getting any salaries, of course: just fees, honoraria and royalties. ;-)

Well, the news is coming out of rather a surprising source this AM. This is from iwon.com's Entertainment section. Their news is normally from CBS and Reuters, and they normally only report "big" news. This seems to be from Variety. Perhaps this latest article isn't even news to you all. If not, my apologies. I'm not sure if this link will work (just go to iwon.com and poke around Entertainment News: http://www.iwon.com/home/entertainment/entertain_article/0,2084,27073|movie|04-11-2000::06:50|reuters,00.html It's probably just rehashing the other papers. (I'm trying not to get *too* excited). The story: Colin Firth May Get Lead Entry in 'Diary' April 11, 2000 3:50 am EST By Adam Dawtrey LONDON (Variety) - Colin Firth is being lined up to play the romantic lead opposite Renee Zellweger in Working Title's film adaptation of "Bridget Jones' Diary," with Hugh Grant as his rival. The casting of Firth, who played supporting roles in "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love," is peculiarly apt. His character, Mark Darcy, is based on Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," whom Firth played in a BBC television adaptation. Firth's smoldering incarnation of Austen's hero obsessed the Bridget Jones character in Helen Fielding's original novel. The film, directed by Sharon Maguire, starts shooting May 1. Financing and distribution is split among Universal Pictures, Miramax Films and Canal Plus.

He will be Mark Darcy!

Meredith, I think you can go ahead and get excited.;-) Didn't realize you already had it here--sorry for the repeat on 129. I like the "romantic lead" part. But wasn't Hughie the "romantic lead" a few days ago?;-) I think the hold-up on "official" announcements is financial. With HG on board, they need more than $8 million for this, if they want to have anything left over to pay the caterers.;-) WT will fork it over, no problem, and if CF is smart, he is driving a hard bargain. The tie-in to MD and P&P will make good publicity down the road. They need him.

(Mari)With HG on board, they need more than $8 million for this, if they want to have anything left over to pay the caterers. ROF,LOL I hope CF *is* driving a hard bargain, and is not hiding his light under a bushel! Perhaps this will be his breakout commercial role!? Are there enough P&P fans who will "get" it, and make a difference in box office?

Hoorah!!! Finally his name as a top mention in Variety, instead of third or fourth paragraph. Thanks Meredith and Mari.

Thanks for the article, Meredith and Mari (yes, Laura, we know, we know, but we'd rather hear about it from Working Title :-P). We can add the phrase "lined up" to the list under "mooted." Mari and Karen are right, I'm sure the delay is contractual: salary, wet shirt scenes, billing, who gets the bigger bathroom, etc. CF's agent's got to be good for something besides saying "I really don't know." (Meredith) Perhaps this will be his breakout commercial role!? ...again! Colin's had more 'breakouts' than a teenager. Are there enough P&P fans who will "get" it, and make a difference in box office? Sure, if we each see it at least 10 times (just like we did for SiL, MLSF, etc.). At least it appears no airfare will be necessary for this one!

Meredith) Are there enough P&P fans who will "get" it, and make a difference in box office? Working Title (Universal) and Miramax will go after the mainstream viewing public over age 30, i.e., not teenage boys. They will not be going after the Masterpiece Theatre crowd.

Just went to AOL.com to pick up some mail and the piece Meredith and Mari posted is listed in the entertainment headlines. How nice it is to see the words "Colin Firth" under the heading "Top Entertainment Stories"!

Time for Bubbly( Hope it works...if not...you get the general idea...

Still think it's unofficial (note use of words "might" and "maybe") but here's to you, Ev. *hic* There's only 19 days 'til May 1st.

Bubbly didn't work for me... But here is my contribution:

The following was posted at austen.com by Valerie: Ok, so here's what I heard today as I was eating an alpine strawberry yogurt this lunchtime while simultaniously swatting up for my Irish Politics tutorial and listening to the Lunchtime Social on Radio One. The guy doing the showbiz news played a clip form an interview with Richard Curtis in which he explained why 'Kate' (I wasn't listening properly at that moment so he could have been talking about either Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchett) wasn't available to play Briget because of prior filming commitments. What did grab my attention however was the fact that Colin Firth is now confirmed for the role of Mark Darcy.

Well this is all sounding very positive. BTW, TNT/Roughcut is now reporting it as well as Popcorn, but they've probably just picked up the Variety story. I called Working Title in L.A., and they said to call the London office so I did but they're closed (darn these pesky time zone differences;-). (Eileen) Colin's had more 'breakouts' than a teenager. Pfft! *Spritzing Glass Plus on my E-Z Wipe monitor cover* Too funny, Eileen. (Eileen) CF's agent's got to be good for something besides saying "I really don't know." Observer reporter: "Was Colin born in England?" Agent: "I really don't know." Observer: "Was he born in Africa, then?" Agent: "I really don't know." Observer: How do you spell Giuggioli?" Agent: "I REALLY don't know."

Rumor has it that final contract negotiations are hung up on two points: a line of dialogue ("your parents, they are well?" and Helen Fielding's insistence on being his dresser. ;-)

I think it's time for Moon's Ten Reasons Why.... 3. Harvey is saying "This time you must attend the premiere";-)

Helen Fielding's insistence on being his dresser. ;-) I wouldn't laugh at it. Wasn't it her offer to play BJ which caused some consternation before?

(Karen) final contract negotiations are hung up on two points: a line of dialogue ("your parents, they are well?" and Helen Fielding's insistence on being his dresser. ;-) (Evelyn) 3. Harvey is saying "This time you must attend the premiere";-) Hee, hee. Hey, I'll play: 4. Renee is insisting on ending the film with "you had me at 'hello'." 5. The coveted part of Geoffrey Alconbury is already taken. 6. He's coaching Will's Little League team this spring. 7. Mike Binder has come in with a competing offer. 8. He's afraid Hugh will out-act him. 9. He doesn't look good in diamond-patterned sweaters or bumble-bee socks. 10. He's detected "waves of loathing" emanating form the Working Title make-up girl. 11. He's committed to doing Jerry Springer: "My school teachers were all fascist, hermaphrodite, cross-dressing aliens and That's Why I'm Still So Traumatized Boo-Hoo."

1. Wants to be begged some more. :-D 2. Insists on wearing Walker's green sweater to the party at her parents' house. (Something to do with hate or pride... ). ;-) Just checking in to great news!! Could not make the celebration before because my son had to have surgery on his leg. The bone was not healing properly and they had to re-set it. Ouch! It went well, he is home. Loved your #11 Mari. And Karen that line about her parents being well, and Eileen the breakouts, all had me LOL! Now we want a comment from HF. She must be happy about this.

11. He's committed to doing Jerry Springer: "My school teachers were all fascist, hermaphrodite, cross-dressing aliens and That's Why I'm Still So Traumatized Boo-Hoo." ROTF!! 12. He's trying to find a role in movie for "Ingrid." ;-)

This snippet from Mr. Showbiz is obviously just a rehash, but it's nice to see so much "press." http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/411/castingcall041100.html

At last! This news was long overdue!! Now I can sleep well again. 2. Insists on wearing Walker's green sweater to the party at her parents' house. (Something to do with hate or pride... ). ;-) LOL!

Here's Meredith's Mr. Showbiz thing: Although Bridget Jones won't be played by a British actress (Texan Renee Zellweger nabbed the role to much outcry), she will have two Brits to choose between as her love interests. Hugh Grant has already signed on to the film version of Helen Fielding's smash novel; now Colin Firth, the presumptuous Lord Wessex in Shakespeare in Love, is being courted to join the cast as Mark Darcy. Fielding has said she based the character on � surprise, surprise � that of the proud Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, a part Firth played in a 1995 British television miniseries of the acclaimed Jane Austen novel. Richard Curtis is writing the script for the film version. He directed Grant in Notting Hill, which Curtis also wrote, and scripted Blackadder Back and Forth, which starred Firth as William Shakespeare. Filming gets underway May 1. ~~~~~~~~~ which starred Firth as William Shakespeare Obviously the writer has never seen Blackadder Back and Forth. ;-)

Entertainment Weekly's News Summary (4/11/00) says this, but remember they all got it from the same Reuters newswire: Colin Firth (''Shakespeare in Love'') will play love interest Mark Darcy in ''Bridget Jones's Diary.''

Well it seems definite. But then again, WE ALWAYS knew he'd play Mark Darcy! Great casting job! :)

Only 18 more days until May 1st (sometime between now and then, Working Title, Universal, Miramax, all the king's horses and all the king's men are going to have to make some sort of official announcement). Loved your top ten-plus reasons, ladies. Especially liked #4, 7 and 8 (as if!), Mari. Speaking of Binder, I was checking my satellite TV's pay-per-view selection (looking for MLSF--one can hope) and what do I find? The Sex Monster. Gaah!

I was checking my satellite TV's pay-per-view selection (looking for MLSF--one can hope) and what do I find? The Sex Monster. Gaah! A little respect here for Max Binder, please.We'll all probably traipse up to Toronto or wherever to see his latest!! ~~~~ Love all the reasons...Mari, the "traumatized childhood on Jerry Springer" takes the cake... And the Green Sweater....!!Maybe even insisting on the Blue Parka...

Glad I found you! Thanks, Mari, for pointing me in the right direction. Rai, a fellow FOF, sent me the scan of the Variety article. It is here: http://www.geocities.com/firthfan/jones/bjones2.html All this great news thanks to the sleuths. Mari, I hope you try London Working TItle again. Murph

(Murph) Mari, I hope you try London Working TItle again. Your wish is my command, oh Murphela. Looks like it's a done deal, ladies! Just got off the phone with their PR lady, no confirmation yet, but "there will be a press release on it, probably tomorrow."

This from Empire On Line: Bridget Jones' Mr Right 12/04/2000 With Hugh Grant already in place as one of Renee Zellweger�s love interests in the forthcoming screen adaptation of Bridget Jones� Diary, it seems the film�s producers are courting Colin Firth for the other key romantic role of Mark Darcy. The author of the bestselling novel, Helen Fielding, claims that the inspiration for the Mark Darcy character came from�surprise, surprise�Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, a role that Firth played in the 1995 BBC adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. The movie will reteam Firth with writer Richard Curtis who penned Blackadder Back and Forth, a short film based on the BBC TV series and shown at the Millennium Dome, in which the actor played William Shakespeare. Shooting on Bridget Jones� Diary is due to begin on May 1 in London with Sharon Maguire directing. Murph

Looks like it's a done deal, ladies! Just got off the phone with their PR lady, no confirmation yet, but "there will be a press release on it, probably tomorrow." ************ YEAHHHH! Murph

(Evelyn) A little respect here for Max Binder, please.We'll all probably traipse up to Toronto or wherever to see his latest!! With all due respect, Ev, have you seen the Sex Monster? :-D I like to think of it as Mike's 'learning curve.' Also don't think anyone here would be traipsing to Toronto to see Mike. I prefer that tall, cute guy with the goatee. (Mari) no confirmation yet, but "there will be a press release on it, probably tomorrow." Hallelujah. Let the games (and the inevitible Darcy comparisons) begin!

Yippee!!!! it seems the film�s producers are courting Colin Firth for the other key romantic role of Mark Darcy. There is only one key romantic role as far as I know and that�s MD. They can�t change that fact whatever they are planning for Hugh/Daniel. And we know that Colin�s got all it takes to make Hughie look like a pitiful creep in comparison. It�s going to be a big boost for his career, whatever happens.

Mari-Looks like it's a done deal, ladies! Just got off the phone with their PR lady, no confirmation yet, but "there will be a press release on it, probably tomorrow." Ooooh! Thanks for checking Mari! I am all astonishment! That would mean sometime in the next 20 hours, or so!!! You would think that if nothing else, depending on scheduling of course, one could just go "hang out" in Kensington/Notting Hill, etc. and SEE who was in the blasted movie :-) Have we heard anything about supporting roles (especially Pam Jones! what a trip she is)? Meredith--who just picked up BJ:EOR at the library!

Meredith, if you're interested in reading the columns that formed the basis for TEOR *before* reading the book, go over to the Bucket site. I've added a section for that. Makes for an interesting comparison and shows how much work went into improving them for the book. http://www.spring.net/karenr/mdbro/bjdcols.html P.S. Always remember to run your mousey over images. You never know what they might do or say. ;-)

Thanks, Karen. I popped over there this AM, and was most impressed, but didn't have time to delve deeper. I love the layout (everchanging) of your spiral bound BJD page, BTW.

Can not wait for the press release, thanks everyone! Mari, after the official announcement, please call WT again and ask about the rest of the cast. I have a feeling Minnie Driver is after one of the parts. Thanks, Karen the the BJD addition. I never did get to read them all. :-)

Ev, have you seen the Sex Monster?... Yeah....baaaad.But I have great hopes for Londinium... *Ever-Hopeful Evie* ;-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks Mari...(who is getting in training for Miramax;-) ~~~~~~~ Karen, new additions to BJ Page look great....can't wait...

Thanks, dearies. Some of you know *what* I have been waiting to unveil. Hopefully...tomorrow if all goes as we've been led to believe.

I hope you're right and that all does go well tomorrow. It's just that I've been let down so much concerning CF in the past year; i.e., "Flashman", "The Maid of Buttermere", and "Armadillo". It's just hard for me to get my hopes up. At this point I'm so skeptical I probably won't believe his being cast until "Bridget Jones Diary" goes into production. Sorry to be so depressing. I'll work on thinking positively. I hope you have good news to present on your BJD page Karen. Good luck.

CherylB It's just hard for me to get my hopes up. At this point I'm so skeptical I probably won't believe his being cast until "Bridget Jones Diary" goes into production Know exactly what you mean Cheryl..I'm not holding my breath...... Meredith - one could just go "hang out" in Kensington/Notting Hill, etc. and SEE who was in the blasted movie .....I can't think of a better way to while away my (extended) lunch hours (days - don't tell the BossMan) this May! Chardonnay & Milk Tray anyone?

The Telegraph confirms it in Thursday's edition. Anne R spotted it tonight. I have it here: http://www.geocities.com/firthfan/jones/bjones2.html YEAAAAA! Murph

Chardonnay & Milk Tray anyone? I'm there with you in spirit, Tracy! Along with Crunchie, Flake, Smarties, etc... ;-)

Fabulous!! Here's the url to the Telegraph article itself and the text: (Notice the budget has more than doubled.) http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000576481449931&rtmo=pblSpIpe&atmo=YYYYYYYp&pg=/et/00/4/13/njones13.html Bridget Jones's dates make even her creator jealous By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent COLIN FIRTH and Hugh Grant, two of Britain's biggest screen pin-ups, are to play the men in the life of Bridget Jones, the neurotic thirty-something career girl, in the film version of Bridget Jones's diary. Helen Fielding, the book's author, said yesterday that she was consumed with jealousy that her screen alter-ego would have affairs with the actors. The film will be the biggest project shot on the streets of London since Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts made Notting Hill and turned the streets of W11 into a film lot. Filming Bridget Jones, with a budget up to �12 million, will begin in a few weeks' time in streets in west London and in a studio outside the capital. A spokesman for the British producers, Working Title Films, who also made Notting Hill, would not disclose whether Notting Hill, Bridget Jones territory, would be used again. He said: "We are saying nothing because we don't want to cause too much excitement." Firth set the female half of Britain on fire as the smouldering Darcy in the last BBC version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In the new film, he will play Mark Darcy, a top-notch lawyer famous for his diamond-patterned golf sweaters and Bridget's most enduring but elusive love. Grant, who played a wistful fop in Four Weddings and a Funeral, will be Daniel Cleaver, Bridget's witty boss and bad boy with whom she has an on-off passion. It is perhaps a minor miracle that Grant has agreed to star in the film. In one diary entry there is a long chunk about his moment of madness in Hollywood. Bridget records her boss holding forth on the subject: "How does a man with a girlfriend with looks like Elizabeth Hurley have a blow-job from a prostitute on a public highway and get away with it?" Fielding said of the two male stars yesterday: "I must admit to jealously violent thoughts towards Bridget since the announcement that she will be canoodling with both of them. It reminds me of the year that Bridget got 13 Valentine cards and I received one which I had strong reason to believe was from the paper boy." She said Grant was "hilariously wicked as well as sexy, charming and delicious". Fielding's Mark Darcy was based on Firth's television appearance. She said: "Mark Darcy is the nearest I came in the book to writing a character with a real-life human being in mind, i.e. Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. So I'm completely thrilled he's agreed to do the part." She said he had all the "suppressed emotion and raw pulsating passion" the character needed. Bridget herself, jinxed in love and obsessed by her cigarette, alcohol and calorie consumption, is to be played by 29-year-old Texan comic actress Renee Zellwegger. Fielding, who worked on early drafts of the script, was reported to have left the project because she objected to the casting of Zellwegger. Now she says she is dying to make an anonymous appearance in the film. "I'm keen on the idea of turning up on set in enormous sunglasses and a gold lam� turban shrieking 'It should have been me!' and having to be led away and given a trinket."

and we're dancin' in the aisles and breaking out the bubbly!! Yippeee!!!

WAHOO!!! *DOING THE HAPPY DANCE* I never doubted it! (ok...maybe once or twice. But then we all cant be Laura) ;-) *hee hee* EsBee (who is deleriously happy)

Webpage is updated. Our own Emma helped on this one; made it look just so perfect. :-)

Yippee!!! All we have to do now is sit back and wait for it to be released. And it will be such a box office success they will decide to use the same cast to make the sequel - Edge of Reason - with Colin Firth playing himself AND Mark Darcy.

Great news to wake up to, to quote Cathey Yippee!!!

YES!!! Finally.....GREAT NEWS!! This is going to be a good one...and the budget has shot up! Love Helen's comments! "It should have been me" LOL!

Hooray! Very good news. And to think we cast the part over two years ago! The trouble is that my expectations are now so high for the film that I can only be disappointed when it comes out!

Mark, good to have you here again! This is good news indeed. Now no one will have an excuse to say "Colin who"?

At last, we can relax a bit . I have a feeling you all stayed up all night to get the scoop :-) But on to the rest of the cast...!

Oh, happy day! Here's the announcement in Variety: Thursday April 13 2:04 AM ET Grant, Firth locked in ``Jones Diary'' By Adam Dawtrey LONDON (Variety) - After weeks of speculation, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth have been confirmed to co-star in ``Bridget Jones' Diary,'' alongside Renee Zellweger. Firth, who played supporting roles in ''The English Patient'' and ``Shakespeare in Love, was cast to play the romantic lead opposite Zellweger, with Grant (''Notting Hill'') portraying his rival. Zellweger is perhaps best known as Tom Cruise's love interest in the 1996 hit ``Jerry Maguire.'' ``Diary,'' produced by Working Title Films and directed by rookie Sharon Maguire, starts shooting later this month, financed by Universal Pictures and Canal Plus.

So can I say it? Please??? I TOLD YOU SO!!!! :) I never had any doubts, the role was made for him, only HE could do it!!!

Oh Happy Day!!! Thank you all for the news! This is it ladies. How will Colin handle the fame? As Gi said, everyone will know him now. At least we will be able to say that we were here first. ;-) (I will not brag, but this was my casting call last year) :-D

Wonderful, perfect! Back home again to such great news. Will try and buy up all the newspapers tomorrow!

...diamond patterned sweater and bumblebee socks...Mmmmm!

Nice to see you back, Mark. Probably couldn't stand our whining, crying and overall infantile behavior. ;-) (KJ, you can come back now too!) (Moon) How will Colin handle the fame? He has a great role model - Hughie - of how NOT to behave.

Yabba-dabba-doo!! To see the name Firth among the top 3 headlines on Yahoo Entertainment *twice* in one week is more excitement than my heart can stand. Now I just hope Colin doesn't use his big BJD paycheck to take another year-long sabbatical a la after SiL;-)

HG on the View show NOW !!!! Maybe a BJ mention?

Just a rerun from his Mickey Blues Eyes promotion. Thanks for the heads-up, Donna.

Thanks to everybody for the news. Good to hear from Mark again..thought you had abandoned us:-( Welcome back Allison. Thank you Laura and Moon for always keeping our spirits up. You were right ALL the TIME..(and told us so;-)) ~~~~~~~ Esp. like the new budget.More $$for Colin, I hope.Think they talked Harvey into kicking in some more? Saw Hugh on "The View" this AM....Thanks Donna...hope I never have to see Colin on that show...dreadful esp. when Barbara Walters isn't there. Hugh looked uncomfortable.(He ought to take lessons from RF who was terrific on the same show) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ **The Bucket** has a terrific shot of "The Barrister"!!Don't miss it.. Great job Karen and Emma.

Do we know who is (was) writing this? I know Richard Curtis is the most recent scribe, but I have read several accounts (or maybe they are all the same one) that Andrew Davies was on board at some point. Inquiring minds...

The official word is "with a script from, Helen Fielding, Andrew Curtis and Richard Curtis."

Karen, I know you meant Andrew Davies. Don't feel bad; in the press release, they have it as Andrew "Davis." Oi. Well, at least they got that Frith guy right.;-);-) The press release is on Murph's page.

I have the press release as well, but didn't bother to reproduce it as it really doesn't say any more. Liked the last line though: "Universal Pictures is a part of Universal Studios, which is a unit of The Seagram Company, Ltd., a global entertainment and - appropriately for Bridget - beverage company.

"That Firth guy" LOL I'm sorry, I should know this, but being a relative newbie--which one is Murph's page? Many thanks!

Please disregard-I found it (Murph's page).

(Karen) "Universal Pictures is a part of Universal Studios, which is a unit of The Seagram Company, Ltd., a global entertainment and - appropriately for Bridget - beverage company. I know, I loved it! Somebody had a sense of humor. Too bad none of the reports used it; I hate seeing wit go to waste.;-) Have just spent some time looking at the BJD pages at your Bucket, Karen. Terrific, clever design and layout--*you* should be doing the PR for this one, kid. Heck, for all of them.;-) *Love the boots.*

Well this topic's run the gamut of emotions for some time now It's gonna be thrilling to see him in such a high focus project. Thanks to all our eagle-eyed sleuths, we should have news to feast on regularly. Loved our DB (dear barrister) on your page, Karen. Thank God you didn't put a white wig on him, K & E.

Shucks, my face of many emotions didn't come through but methinks we'll see enough changes in the coming months...enough to keep this roller coaster topic going for quite awhile.