Chiwetel Ejiofor went to see “Bridget Jones’s Diary” back in 2001, fully expecting to be bombarded by female energy.
Instead, he left the theater stunned by how much he related to her, he said: “feeling all of that chaos and a little bit out of step with the world but somehow with optimism and hopefulness and a sort of fake-it-till-you-make-it spirit.”
So when the director Michael Morris asked him to discuss “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” the franchise’s latest installment, over tea in London, Ejiofor didn’t have to fake anything.
“I loved the whole world of it,” he said.
This time around, Renée Zellweger’s Bridget is a widowed mother of two, and Ejiofor is Mr. Wallaker, her son’s science teacher and a potential love interest.
Not that he would dare attempt to replace Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). “They’re iconic,” he said.
But portraying a distinct character at a different, perhaps more challenging time in Bridget’s life “made it incredibly fun to play,” he said — if occasionally poignant. “You can’t hold onto your 30-something self obviously, but if you still maintain a bit of that quality, it assists you in navigating these waters.”
In a video call from Amsterdam, Ejiofor explained how the works of John Coltrane and Shakespeare changed his life, and why he’s still mad about London.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’
I remember hearing “A Love Supreme” for the first time as an early teenager and being aware that I was in the presence of something hard to describe. To really give a love letter to the human spiritual experience and to do it successfully is so profoundly meaningful to me. It feels like it’s only possible to really achieve something like that with the level of dedication and the obsession that he had with practicing, with just being totally ruled by this instrument.
Crystal Palace Football Club
I was born in East London but we moved south when I was very young, so Crystal Palace was the first local team that I really got to know. I think Crystal Palace fans love the fact that we’re always slightly the underdog. You don’t mind having a difficult season as long as it ends up OK.
The British Library
There was a time that I started to go down to the British Library without a plan, and it ended up being some of the most fascinating adventures of my life. You’d open up this huge database and see where it takes you. And then these tomes would arrive, these ancient books. Some of them hadn’t been opened for god knows how long, the dust still coming off them.
Paul Cézanne
I’ve always had a connection to Impressionism. Who doesn’t love to look at these paintings? But there’s something about Cézanne that always took me further than anybody else. Because I think without artifice, he places you as a viewer. You are in the painting. Your eye is his eye.
London
Having walked the streets of London for 40-something years and found so much camaraderie, so much joy, and to never be bored of it — I’ve spent time away but always returned to London feeling like it has something to say to me.
Dutch Barges
I purchased a Dutch barge many years ago, and now it sits in a marina just by the Thames. Being a Cancerian, I always had this real love of water. When I was traveling a lot, and I didn’t really have a permanent place in London, I lived on the barge, and it was brilliant.
Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’
As a piece of music, it’s extraordinary. As a political statement, it’s extraordinary. The song “Graceland” is among the most beautiful sounds and the most harmonious combining of musical traditions in a way that celebrates Africa.
‘Holiday,’ Directed by George Cukor
It was the first time that I ever understood that being an actor was a thing that people did. The way Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn engaged with each other, the way they fell in love. There’s a magical quality to these two.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigeria has such a rich tradition of writers of achievement and of beauty — Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ben Okri — so I was always excited about Chimamanda. When I read “Half of a Yellow Sun,” it was profoundly important to hear somebody talk about our parents and our grandparents and our lives with this kind of richness and poetry. I was thrilled to be in the film.
‘Henry IV, Part 1’ by Shakespeare
It ultimately revolutionized the path of my life. A sense of this person speaking to me at a time when it’s incredibly meaningful to hear voices, to hear any kind of guidance, really. “Henry IV” represents this idea of not knowing whether you’re going to amount to anything, of not having any road map for how to live your life. But that a sense of achievement and self-love is in your future somewhere, even if you haven’t attained it yet.
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