Toni Collette Doesn't Regret Turning Down 'Bridget Jones's Diary': 'Life Happens as It's Meant To'

The actress was once offered the lead role in the 2001 rom-com — a role that eventually went to Renée Zellweger

Toni Collette has no regrets in her career — and that includes turning down the lead role in the Bridget Jones franchise.

The actress, 50, addressed the role that ultimately went to Renée Zellweger on Thursday's Watch What Happens Live, saying: "I think there are no coincidences. Anything that's meant for you in life is meant to happen. I have no regrets — life happens as it's meant to. But that is true, yeah."

Related:Renée Zellweger Says She'd 'Love the Experience of Revisiting' Bridget Jones for Another Movie

Collette previously shared in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment that she was offered the starring role in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, but ultimately passed on the opportunity because she was "busy" working on Broadway musical The Wild Party.

"I wasn't available," the Australian actress said. "But sometimes I think about and I think, I don't know, that character's so similar to Muriel [of Muriel's Wedding]. It might've been too close. And I try not to repeat myself."

The gig eventually went to Zellweger, who starred in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, 2004's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby. Before the British film's initial release, director Sharon Maguire told Total Film in 2000 that "everybody who worked on the film had a different idea of who Bridget is."

"And nearly everybody who has read the book knows Bridget either it's themselves or it's their friend," she said. "So casting her was very scary. I figured that when [Zellweger] walked in the room, we'd know. She did walk in the room, and we did know. And we went 'Oh f---, she's a Texan.'"

"We were in the curious position of people saying: 'They've gone for some American to make it more marketable.' Well, we weren't thinking we'd make loads more money because Renée's not in the Julia Roberts or Mel Gibson stratosphere. But she's got this inner irreverence and she's got this innocence and vulnerable exterior," she added. "She also has a very good sense of physical comedy and was so dedicated to getting it right, When I first met her, she said: 'If you and I get this wrong, we're so busted.'"

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Related:Renée Zellweger Is Eager to Play Bridget Jones Again: She's 'Just So Much Fun'

Of course, the films ended up being a success — with the first earning the star, 53, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In recent months, Helen Fielding — the author behind Bridget Jones's Diary and The Edge of Reason — revealed she's working on transforming her third book in the series, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, into a movie.

"Yes I'm working on it and I really hope it will happen," Fielding, 65, told the Radio Times back in November. "Every film that gets made is a miracle — it's really difficult to make films happen and to make them good. But I'd love to see it on the screen."

Fielding's first two books became the 2001 and 2004 films, while the author's newspaper column for The Independent formed the foundation for 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby. Colin Firth reprised his role as Mark Darcy in each movie installment, with Hugh Grant's Daniel Cleaver character being presumed dead in the third movie until a turnabout at the end revealed him to still be alive.

While promoting her show The Thing About Pam on Sirium XM's The Jess Cagle Show last year, Zellweger expressed her interest in wanting to portray her famous rom-com character again in a new film. When asked if there was a possibility of another sequel, she responded, "I hope so. I hope so. I mean, it's fun, you know, she's so much fun."

"I love being in her shoes," Zellweger added. "I mean, it makes me giggle, you know, every day on set the choices that we get to make about just how awkward we can make her circumstances. It's just so much fun."

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