Renée Zellweger is waving goodbye to her iconic character, Bridget Jones.
The actress, 55, has reprised the role for the final installment in the franchise, Mad About the Boy, and at the New York City premiere on Wednesday, Feb. 12, the star exclusively told PEOPLE that she’s feeling emotional about saying farewell.
“We’ve been forging this friendship for over 25 years together through this journey, shared journey, Bridget Jones’ journey,” Zellweger says of the cast, including Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
“It was both wonderful and really sad,” she tells PEOPLE of filming, adding that “real tears” were shed when the movie wrapped.
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When asked if Mad About the Boy — which also stars Leo Wodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor — would be the final of Bridget’s installments, the Oscar winner says it is. “That’s what I understand. That’s what Colin [Firth] said.”
The actress looked chic and understated for the event — held at Jazz at Lincoln Center — in a structured, satin ankle-length dress with a Bardot top and a belted waist. Zellweger’s closed-toe pumps complimented her 1950s-style look, which also featured an updo and minimal makeup.
And while it’s been nearly 10 years since we saw her play the part of Bridget on the big screen, the Texan star told PEOPLE in a second interview on Feb. 12, that she had no hesitation about returning to the role.
“Bridget feels like an old friend,” Zellweger said.
As for Bridget’s British accent, she admitted she kept it the whole time they were filming in and around London.
“I wouldn’t say it was method acting as much as it was lazy,” the star shared. “I didn’t want to start every morning trying to make my vowels sound right. I just wanted it to be a habit. I didn’t want to work that hard!”
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However, Zellweger says this iteration of Bridget Jones felt different than the others, as it depicts Jones still reeling from the death of her husband Mark Darcy (Firth) who died four years previously.
“We were familiar with how emotional the material was because the novel had been out for a while,” she said.
“But the script was so beautifully written that the emotion just sneaks up on you. You think you’re heading in one direction that feels familiar, and then yeah, it just gets you,” she added.
Zellweger isn’t the only cast member tearing up at Mad About the Boy. During a Nov. 13 appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham, Grant, 64, said he cried when he first read the screenplay.
“It’s got a huge amount of heart. It made me cry,” he said, adding that the film was also, “extremely funny.”
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