Casting Bridget Jones - 12 Actress Renee Zellweger Competed With (Including 1 Deemed 'Too Beautiful' for Role)

Renee Zellweger has been bringing Bridget Jones to life for nearly 25 years at this point, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role.

However, the actress faced some stiff competition when auditioning, and her casting was controversial to many.

If you were unaware, the Bridget Jones movies kicked off in 2001 with Bridget Jones’s Diary. All these years later, Renee and many other familiar faces from the franchise linked up again for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which premiered on Valentine’s Day.

With the movie’s release, we did some digging into who else might have played the iconic role.

Interestingly, only a few actresses have confirmed that they were in the running for the role. However, a dozen were mentioned as being considered at various points in the casting process.

Director Sharon Maguire deemed one of the contenders “too beautiful.” Another of them landed a different role in the franchise. One star even revealed a second role that they lost to Renee after having to pass on the series.

Scroll through the slideshow to see who else was in the running to play Bridget Jones…

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