Renee Zellweger reveals she went unrecognised during unexpected Bridget Jones work experience

In a candid chat Renee Zellweger has revealed how she went totally 'under the radar' when she worked at a London publishing house to research her role as Bridget Jones

Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant have come together to share some Bridget Jones secrets and discuss their 25-year friendship.

Renee, the lead of Bridget Jones, has been interviewed by her co-star and friend in anticipation of the upcoming release of the latest film in the popular franchise - Mad About The Boy.

During their playful chat, Renee surprises Hugh by revealing how she went unnoticed during some covert work experience for the first Bridget Jones film. As Hugh recalls, there was a lot of 'hullabaloo' when American Renee was cast as Helen Fielding's British heroine.

Renee, who confesses that unlike Hugh she doesn't google herself, only became aware of the uproar when she began preparing for the film. To get into character as a publicity assistant at a London publishing company, Renee secretly worked at Picador, a major UK publishing house, for 'a month or two'.

“I was ‘Bridget Cavendish’ because Jonathan Cavendish, the film's producer, was very good friends with the gentleman who was the editor of Picador,” she told Hugh for Vogue magazine.

She soon found it difficult to avoid the publicity surrounding her casting: “Part of my job was to take the newspaper clippings from the daily papers and file them under Helen Fielding's file, as they represented her,” she disclosed. “And I started having to clip these articles about this ‘c**p American actor’ who was set to play Bridget Jones.”

A chuckling Hugh then said: “You were clipping your own clippings!” Before the conversation took a deeper turn, Hugh said: “Was it in any way natural at Picador or did they just think, ‘There's the famous American Renée Zellweger poncing around our office?’”

Renee maintained that 'nobody knew' despite her Hollywood fame, as she pondered 'maybe I was out of context or maybe it was having more chubby cheeks. It was odd.’

“One of the ladies who worked in the office was reading the Anna Quindlen novel One True Thing and they made a film out of it [that I starred in], so I'm on the cover of the book. And she's there telling me about having finished it on the Tube on the way to work and how marvellous it was.”

Renee and Hugh are reprising their roles as Bridget and Daniel Cleaver for the fourth time in the upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

The most recent film, 2016's Bridget Jones' Baby, left Bridget stunned when she found out she was pregnant. It concluded with her tying the knot with Mark, the successful lawyer who she'd had fluctuating feelings for throughout the three films, and revealed that he was the father of her baby.

However, in Mad About The Boy, Mark tragically dies while working overseas as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and the book follows her journey as she navigates motherhood alone.

She also resigns from her job in television to do the school run, with hilarious scenes anticipated as she struggles to keep pace with the Yummy Mummies. Bridget will also find herself caught in a three-way battle for her affection.

The love triangle between Roxster [Leo], PE teacher Mr. Wallaker [Chiwetel] and the returning Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant] continues to unfold. The initial film, Bridget Jones's Diary, was released in 2001 and raked in £222 million at the box office – over ten times its production cost.

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