Hugh Grant refuels Colin Firth ‘rivalry’ as Bridget Jones 4 trailer arrives

‘It’s nice to give the old boy some work,’ the actor said

Hugh Grant has reignited his ongoing “feud” with his Bridget Jones’s Diary co-star Colin Firth.

The pair starred alongside each other in the 2001 adaptation of Helen Fielding’s novel and will reprise their characters for the forthcoming fourth instalment of the franchise.

Grant has mocked Firth’s fleeting role in the film, who only appears in Bridget’s memories in the newly released trailer as his character, Mark Darcy, has died in a tragic accident.

Speaking on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Grant said of the casting decision: “Poor Colin. They’re still wheeling him out. No, it’s fine. It’s nice to give the old boy some work.”

Meyers asked the Heretic star whether Firth’s roles should be seen as an act of “charity work”, to which Grant laughed and claimed the Supernova actor did his own makeup on set.

“He looks fine,” Grant continued. “He’s had a lot of work done. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but it’s brilliant work. Whoever did it.”

It comes shortly after Grant joked about his ongoing feud with Firth in a recent Vanity Fair interview.

Hugh Grant, Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth at the ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ premiere in 2004 (Getty Images)

When asked about his idea of “perfect happiness” the actor said: “Drinking a pint of London Pride while munching Twiglets and reading about Colin Firth having a critical and box office catastrophe.”

However, the actor has previously confirmed his rivalry with Firth is simply an ongoing gag. Back in 2012, he told The London Standard: “I like the guy, despite his outrageous rudeness about me. It’s a running joke and we do it to each other.

“I’m always hearing how he’s announced that I’m too old to be in the cinema anymore,” he added.

Last month, Grant claimed he had been “crammed” into the new Bridget Jones film despite there being no “obvious role” for him in the narrative.

Grant and Zellweger in ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ (Allstar/Miramax)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be released on Valentine’s Day next year and follows Renée Zellweger as a newly single mother-of-two navigating the modern world of dating.

Grant said on The Graham Norton Show:“It is a good and moving script – it is extremely funny but very sad… There was no obvious role for me, but I was crammed in.”

Grant didn’t appear in the 2004 sequel, The Edge of Reason, and told Vanity Fair, “I really couldn’t fit my character in—he just didn’t belong, so I stepped aside.”

He had originally turned down a part in the fourth instalment of the movie too, saying “they’d done something I wasn’t crazy about.” However, once he was able to write “some scenes” in the film, he decided to come on board.

He added, “It’s absolutely the best (book) and I think it’s very funny and very, very moving. I’m not in a lot, I did a week’s work, that’s it ... But when you see the film, you’ll be very moved.”