- Leo Woodall is one of the stars of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
- The actor plays heartthrob Roxster in the flick
- But Woodall admits that he felt the ‘pressure’ before one scene in particular
Leo Woodall is just one of the heartthrobs winning over audiences in the latest Bridget Jones movie.
In Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – which makes its debut on streaming service Peacock today (February 13) – Woodall plays Roxster, the 29-year-old who Renée Zellweger’s Bridget meets on dating app Tinder.
In true rom-com style, the actor, 28, had to channel another Bridget icon – Colin Firth.
While Firth only briefly appears in the fourth movie, fans will remember his soaked white shirt as he climbed out of the water fountain in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason – a trope which harked back to his role as the other Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
Now, Woodall has picked up the mantle – but said he felt “pressure” before they shot the scene.
“I did feel some pressure beforehand, though, over that whole scene,” he admitted in an interview with The Telegraph. “Because there’s nothing more embarrassing than having to be objectified… but not being objectified, you know? Trying to be objectified and failing.”
Woodall also praised how the movie used an intimacy coordinator.
“I really do think they’re a good thing,” he said. “They know when to get involved and when not to and what I really love about them is that when they come on set, they are probably the only person there who doesn’t give a f*** about the production.
“I mean, they usually do end up caring of course, but basically their sole priority, their sole purpose, is you. Which is wonderful.”
Leo Woodall reveals fame made him ‘question’ his career
While he got his first big break as Jack in the second season of The White Lotus, Woodall’s global success came virtually overnight when the Netflix adaptation of One Day hit our screens last year.
And although he is obviously grateful for his career to be taking off, the actor is struggling with the loss of anonymity.
“It does feel weird. Horrible,” he explained. “And I can’t even imagine what it’s like for someone so famous, like Harry Styles, because it really made me question what I was doing.”
“I love what I do, and I want to be as successful as I can be, but if I get that and my life is… that – all the time? I don’t think I could handle it.”
Leo Woodall talks the Bridget Jones audition process
While writer Helen Fielding had him pegged for the role of Roxster from the beginning, Woodall says his audition was lengthier than those he is used to.
“It was a slightly longer audition than I usually do,” he continued. “They’re usually about 15 minutes but this one went on for 40, so I thought that might be a good sign.”
But perhaps less promising was the fact that the part was originally written as Scottish/
“So I went in and did it in Scottish, and they then had me try it in English,” he laughed. “Read into that what you will!”
