GRIEF ENCOUNTER
By Iain Blair
Irish cinematographer Suzie Lavelle ISC BSC is well-known for her acclaimed collaborations with Irish director Lenny Abrahamson (Normal People, Conversations With Friends) as well as such diverse projects as His Dark Materials, Severance, One Hundred Mornings and Sherlock.
Her latest project is Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, the sequel to Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016, DP Andrew Dunn BSC) and the fourth instalment in the Bridget Jones film series. Directed by Michael Morris, whose credits include To Leslie (2022, DP Larkin Seiple), the hit romcom reunites stars Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson who reprise their roles as Bridget Jones, Daniel Cleaver, Mark Darcy and Doctor Rawlings, respectively.
With a story set a few years after the last film, Bridget Jones is now a widowed single mother, navigating the challenges of parenthood, work and modern dating, with the support of her friends, family and former partner, Daniel. As she re-enters the dating world, she finds herself pursued by a younger man while also forming an unexpected connection with her son’s science teacher.
“I never thought I’d shoot a film like this”
“I’d only seen the first Bridget Jones film when I started interviewing for this production, but I was a huge fan and it was a part of growing-up, as my whole family was obsessed with it,” Lavelle recalls.
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris.
“Before I even knew about this project, I’d seen To Leslie and was so impressed with the director that I looked him up and told my agent I wanted to work with him. Then shortly after, I got a call about Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, and it turned out to be the same director – Michael Morris. So that was very interesting. When I read the script, I thought it was hilarious, hit all the right notes, and Michael and I had a great meeting about it.”
In terms of their visual approach and establishing the overall aesthetic of the movie Lavelle reports that Morris, “Wanted a very grounded London look that we all know, and he was very interested in the same handheld approach I’d done on Conversations With Friends. I shot all that on the shoulder and it was a really big reference for this.
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mr. Walliker in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris.
“As was Richard Curtis’ film About Time (2013, DP John Gulesarian), which is probably the most handheld, long-lens film of all his movies. So, the plan was to shoot it very naturalistically, with it not feeling lit, and with an immediate, energetic camera that was just very present with Bridget.”
Prep was originally scheduled for ten weeks, “But after just the first day we had to shut down because of the strikes,” Lavelle recalls, “so we ended-up having more time to do all the location scouting. And obviously I was also involved in the set build for Bridget’s house, which was on a stage at the new Sky Studios, Elstree, where we shot for about three weeks.
“That was a big one for us in terms of the naturalistic lighting and the type of house she lived in – one of those skinny London terrace houses with windows at either end and not a lot in-between. That meant, we had to figure-out how this free camera could just follow Bridget around but still have enough light in the centre of the house to make everyone look good.”
Although the filmmakers flirted with the idea of shooting on film, “It wasn’t practical ultimately,” reports Lavelle, who shot the film on the ARRI Alexa 35 camera, with Canon K35 lenses.
“Working with such a great cast and crew was a very emotional experience”
“It was the first time I’d shot on the Alexa 35 and I chose it because it replicates skin tones so beautifully. And once you look into film emulation LUTs, it gives you the closest look to that filmic skin tone we wanted.”
(from left) Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) and Roxster (Leo Woodall) in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris.
The DP used two Alexa 35s, “Although B-camera wasn’t shooting everything all the time. I love the K35s, which I also used on Normal People. They’re fast and very good for handheld – especially the 55mm which, at T1.3, is very fast and has a narrow depth-of-field that can be very beautiful for portraiture and close-ups. I know that lens so well, and it’s what drove the package. It was really about getting what romcoms are – the idea that you don’t notice the camera, and just see the characters in their world generally at their best.”
For lighting, Lavelle went with Tungsten, “As it’s the nicest and closest way to replicate daylight in a studio. I used a lot of Wendy lights and a set of big Fresnels,” she reports. “I didn’t use much small stuff or LEDs except for emergencies and one of the tricky locations in the north of England with barn owls. One of my lighting crew, Henriette Jacobsen, made us some custom lights with heavy diffusion for the close-up and beauty work.”
(from left) Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) and Roxster (Leo Woodall) in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris.
The DP worked on a LUT with colourist Toby Tomkins from Harbor Post. “Because we had a change of post house very late in prep, and due to our already tight schedule, I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to develop a LUT. So I used one I already had and then got Toby to adapt it with me as we began shooting,” she explains.
“That worked-out well as Toby and I hadn’t worked together before, so it gave us a chance to get to know each other. He’s really a colour scientist, so when I told him I wanted a sort of film emulation in terms of rolling highlights, halation and soft, natural skin tones, he jumped right in and was brilliant at it.”
Emma Thompson as Dr. Rawlings in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris.
Lavelle and Morris only shot-listed and storyboarded a few scenes, “Like the swimming pool scene with the dog going in the water,” Lavelle reveals, “where we had to coordinate with other departments, such as VFX. But for all the work in the house, when we were alone with Bridget or doing two-handers, it’d just be me and Michael working-out the shots between us, with the idea that there would be space for the actors to improvise, and the blocking for all of that was very important.”
Photography on the film began at the start of May 2024, before wrapping 13 weeks later in early August. “Although the shoot itself was quite long, we had 40 locations, which meant there were a lot of moves and travel, plus we had to shoot according to the children’s timetable,” she notes.
“Also, shooting nights in residential areas of London in the summertime, when it doesn’t get dark till very late and you have time restrictions, was also challenging. So, we rehearsed it all during daylight and then really pushed to get all our coverage done in the short time window we had once it went dark. But I had a great crew, which really helped things.”
(from left) Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) and Shazzer (Sally Phillips) in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael
Lavelle’s camera and lighting team included A-camera 1st AC Tom Taylor, A-camera 2nd ACs Mahalia John and Phillip Barnes, B-camera operator Simon Finney, plus 1st AC Jonny Wright, Jake Whitehouse on Steadicam, and Will Gardner working as DIT. Aerial photography was provided by Helicopter Film Services/The Flying Camera Company. The gaffer was James Bridger, with Adrian Barry leading the grip team.
Lavelle says, “The most difficult scenes to shoot were daylight scenes that took a few days to accomplish, like the swimming pool scene or the up-the-tree scene, where you’re trying to match the different days and lighting conditions. The scenes at the TV station were fun but also difficult in terms of us having our own electrical crew while they also had one, and that was tricky to deal with.”
“The plan was to shoot naturalistically, with an energetic camera that was present with Bridget”
As for her favourite scene to shoot, “It’s hard to choose one as there are so many,” she adds, “but I just loved it when it was just us and Bridget in the house. Of course, we also shot in the Lake District. I’d never been there before, and it was amazingly beautiful.”
Lavelle attended the final grade with Tomkins at Harbor, London. “Because of the very tight schedule from the end of the shoot shooting to the official release, we only had about two weeks to do the theatrical grade, plus a bit more time for the HDR,” she reports.
“We had the film broken-down into six reels of about 25 minutes each, and our mission in the first week was to do a rough grade on one reel each day. I talked to Toby about the general look, but as he had already graded some trailers it meant we’d already discussed it a lot. Also, we had a pre-day of talking about the big stuff, like halation and where the highlights and blacks were going to sit.
“So, we did a broad pass during the first week, going through everything but not getting into the nitty-gritty of windows and so on. Then Michael came in with all his notes, and we then did another day-per-reel, tweaking and finessing stuff. Finally, we watched the whole film and did some tweaks, rewatched it and did more tweaks until everyone was completely happy.”
“I’m so happy with the way this film looks and the way it all turned out,” Lavelle sums-up, “especially as I never thought I’d shoot a film like this. Working with such a great cast and crew was actually a very emotional experience in the end, and I felt honoured to be on a set with Renée, Colin and Hugh and everyone. They’ve all been doing this for 25 years now, and it felt like being part of a very special Bridget Jones family.”
