From the Telegraph in the U.K.

RENEE ZELLWEGER, the American star of Bridget Jones's Diary, has agreed
to appear in a sequel after being assured that she will not have to put on much
extra weight again for the role.

The normally svelte actress had originally refused to repeat the part of the
neurotic thirtysomething single girl searching for love because it would require
her to pile on the pounds. She had to put on two stone for the original film,
which broke box office records when it opened on Friday across Britain and
America.

Echoing her screen character's obsession with her figure, Zellweger, 32, had told
Working Title, the film's British producers, that "no amount of money" could
persuade her to appear in a sequel. She said: "I was overweight for eight months
and I don't want to go through that experience again."

However, Zellweger was persuaded to change her mind when told that she would
not have to put on weight to play the part and plans for a sequel are now well
advanced. Bridget Jones's Diary is on course to be the most successful
British-made film ever after taking £1.7 million in the UK on its opening night,
double the amount that Notting Hill, the record holder, took when it opened.

The film is expected to take £6 million in its first weekend, £1.8 million more
than Notting Hill. In America it took £1.2 million on Friday night, beaten only by Spy Kids, the Easter holiday children's movie. Zellweger gained the weight to
play Bridget by eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches and hamburgers.

After filming, she went from a size 12 to a size eight. The Texan actress, who
stars alongside Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, was looking slim and muscular at the
film's London premiere earlier this month, having shed the extra weight with the
help of a personal trainer.

Working Title has been so delighted by the reviews of the film, and its popularity at pre-opening screenings, that it is determined to go ahead with the sequel, based on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the second of the books by Helen Fielding. The London-based company, which also produced Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, is expected to start filming next year.

A casting director working on the project said Zellweger "needs to be on board
as it would be difficult to introduce a new Bridget". He said: "However, it
appears possible to persuade Renee to appear again if she is not made to put on as many pounds. Bridget is thinner in the second book as she spends time in a Thai jail after being imprisoned for drug trafficking."

It is hoped that the original film's other stars will also appear in the sequel.
Zellweger's publicist, Leslie Sloane, confirmed that the actress was no longer
ruling herself out of the new film. A spokesman for Miss Fielding, who co-wrote
the film with Richard Curtis, the writer of Notting Hill, said that she would be
working on the second script.

Eric Fellner, the producer of Bridget Jones and co-chairman of Working Title,
said that he would be sitting down on Tuesday to plan in detail how to film the
sequel starring Zellweger. It had already been discussed with the cast and the
company had taken out the option to film the second book.

brit talk
 

for those who don't know, a stone is 14 pounds, so she had to put on 28 pounds.
a british size 12 is about a US 8-10. a british size 8 is about a US 4-6 (and i heard that she's now gone down to a british size 6, so that's a US 2-4).
any other conversion queries, throw them my way!